Movie Review: Crooked House Is an Indie Thriller With a Killer

There’s a Killer in Residence in Agatha Christie’s Crooked House

Crooked House is a throwback to classic murder mystery whodunits premiered in select theatres December 2017. At around the same time another more publicized Christie book-turned-film left the station. There may not be an International train travel or shady business men getting offed in this film, but there’s still plenty of shock, suspense and murder to go around in this thriller.

When Sophia de Haviland’s (Stefani Martini) elite family loses their patriarch Aristide Leonides (Gino Picciano), a Greek immigrant who achieved immense wealth and status after he immigrated to the U.K., to a sudden heart attack Sophia suspects foul play. As his favourite granddaughter and close confidant she thinks dear old Gramps was poisoned. And she’s not the only one. There’s a killer in the house, and both Sophia and they whoever they are, know it.

Eager to put an end to any drama before it starts Sophia seeks out her ex-flame Charles to solve the case before it goes public. Max Irons (The White Queen) plays said private investigator Charles Hayward, a young man who decided to take up detecting not as part of Scotland Yard like his esteemed father but on his own.

It’s this distance he has from the Law with a capital L that brings Sophia to seek out Charles and hire him for his P.I. chops. Once the police get their hands on the scandal and release it to the press, the Leonides name will forever be tarnished. Even though the short-lived romance Sophia and Charles had in Cairo went up in flames, and there’s a definite tension between the two, Charles begrudgingly agrees to help.

The Leonides mansion, crammed full of family member after family member descends into helter-skelter guessing game of whodunnit. Every single name budded on the family tree is a potential suspect. Aristide’s grandchildren, sons, daughters, daughters-in-law and other relatives by blood and marriage all have something to gain from his untimely death. It’s up to Charles to find the people, or persons who offed Aristide in cold blood.

Aristide’s girlish and naive much younger wife Brenda (Christina Hendricks) is blamed, but it’s obvious to us and her that it’s just a smoke screen and an attempt to just get her out of the picture for good. “We don’t belong in their world,” she tells Charles upon meeting him. Her warning that he very well can be given the boot next reflects so well the focus on status and prestige that rules in the time period of Crooked House. Did someone say nepotism?

In typical Agatha Christie fashion the Crooked House characters all have distinct personalities and quirks and eccentricities that set them apart from  each other. They’re believably human, yes, but they’re also very peculiar. Universally there’s something unsettling about each of them we see it in their eyes and hear it in their extended silences or tense retorts. It’s unquestionable that each of them has a darkness inside and harbor more than a few secrets.

The writers don’t take pains to make us love each of the characters, or even like them. So many of the Leonides and de Haviland men and women are greedy, grasping, and vain. Take Sophia’s mother, Magda (Gillian Anderson). Her obsession with herself and her failed acting career borders on narcissism. Just look at her obviously fake black flapper wig and her inability to connect with either of her daughters. And don’t even think of calling her mother, for cripes sake it “AGES” her.

Thankfully other characters get more screen time and they are the ones that catch our curiosity. Take Glenn Close’s mole exterminating, trousers-wearing Lady Edith de Haviland, Sophia’s aunt. Lady Edith is an iron-willed and clever woman, and she certainly has the gumption to knock off that old curmudgeon Aristide. They never got along after all, and she never once felt a loyalty towards him.

Then there’s Sophia’s little sister Josephine (Honor Kneafsey). Josephine is a keen, budding detective with a notebook full of clues and her observations always in hand. If she’s not scurrying about spying and listening at doorways she’s whining and bored out of her mind stuck listening to a humorless and aging nanny  (Jenny Galloway). But is this little Nancy Drew as innocent as she seems? She witnessed something and that’s for sure.

Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner Crooked House takes a deliberate historical angle, concentrating on the ‘50s and bringing the era to the screen with retro automobiles, sumptuous clothing and the mannerisms and way of speaking that the Leonides employ.

The visuals and the setting in Crooked House are carefully thought out and generously filmed. The house is grand and extravagant and we get to explore just about all of the decadent rooms. Embellished with antiquated furniture and elaborate displays it perfectly reflects the family that lives within it: one that’s dripping with money and stunning by all appearances but inside is rather empty, shallow and unnecessary. Even Sophia herself admits that her family isn’t like many and that they’re cutthroat when it comes to clinging to their wealth and lifestyle.

Confession: I almost fell asleep on Crooked House twice. This in no way reflects the quality of the acting, plot or writing. It’s just not the movie to want to watch at night if sleep is coming in fast! Crooked House is a slow, subdued affair which takes its time letting the story develop. It’s a murder mystery yes, but it’s far from being a pulse-pounding thriller. We get that energy and rhythm in the last twenty minutes or so, but the majority of the film is quiet and carefully crafted.

The film adheres closely to the source material and except for going out with a bang it doesn’t take any kind of risks or pushes the envelope in any way. So while it’s not exactly lit with creativity or breathtaking cinematography the plot is study enough and the performances are sound. As far as Christie books turned movies go, this is no Murder on the Orient Express. Crooked House is a lower budgeted, lower-stakes whodunit with enough to satisfy a simple, if subdued, request for a murder mystery.

Crooked House is currently on DVD and streaming on Amazon Prime.