As of 7:30 this morning, the box office performance of the 2017 version of "Murder on the Orient Express" in the three days of release was only 90.107 million, which is far from the same Hollywood blockbuster "Thor 3".
Source: Maoyan Pro
Although from the above data, it is not a box office bomb with amazing results, but this does not prevent it from traveling through time and space again and again as a classic reasoning film, which has impressed audiences around the world.
After watching the film, I couldn't get out of it for a whole day. Although the first half of this version of the film is a bit warm, the film's graphics and details of the processing, let me have a sense of déjà vu in addition to stunning.
For example, the most luxurious train decoration of the time, Princess Dzogomirov's ring-laden hands and wide mink coat, Poirot's obsessive-compulsive personality when picking eggs... These familiar images suddenly pulled me back to my middle school days.
The first time I read my grandmother's book (Agatha Christie, hereinafter referred to as Agatha), I was in my second year of junior high school and borrowed it from a classmate. The classmate was a true fan of speculative fiction, and the kind of novels in the home were piled up in a bookcase, arranged in the ranking of authors in his mind: among the top lattice was Arthur Conan Doyle's Detective Sherlock Holmes, the second lattice was The location of Ellery Quinn, the third was Agatha, and the fourth was Edogawa Rambling.
The first time I borrowed it was Agatha's The Case of Roger. Since then, it has been out of control.
Every mystery fan has his own favorite author, such as the classmate I mentioned above, who loved the talented and omnipotent Holmes, and even printed a "221 Baker Street" cardboard door number and pasted it on his bedroom door.
So, in his ranking, Arthur Conan Doyle is number one.
I love Agatha.
In addition to the ingenious plot of her novels and the personal charm of the detective, the most important thing is that she injects the delicacy and romance characteristic of female writers into the works, adding a lot of interest to the murders that should be bloody and terrible.
Agatha christie
The beautiful environment and the strong atmosphere of life make the crime no longer bloody and terrifying
As a female reasoning enthusiast, bloody horror is, to me, a frightening, a sense of disgust. I initially liked Agatha, in large part because her work, while also depicting evil, in these crimes, neither atrocities nor pornography, the content is gentle and clean. What is more valuable is that she also adds a lot of interests in life to her works, such as a beautiful environment and a strong atmosphere of life.
Most of the crimes in her works are selected in pleasant places, and behind each crime there are descriptions of the environment and customs of the time, which is infinitely fascinating. Such as the quiet and pleasant coastal town in "The Strange Case of cliff hills", the unique geomorphological environment and scenic spots in Egypt in "The Mystery of the Tomb", the charming tropical style and strong life atmosphere in "The Mystery of the Caribbean Sea"...
Manors, castles, islands, romantic and beautiful places have been used by her almost every time. Even the trains and cruise ships that became the scene of crimes to create a confined space must be the most luxurious at the time, such as the Orient Express.
This is inextricably linked to Agatha's own passion for life, which she likes to observe, interact with, and especially travel, and incorporates what she sees and hears into her work: the Orient Express in the film, for example, when she traveled to the Middle East in 1929; for example, in "No One Survives", the description of the idyllic scenery of Devonshire comes from her memory of her hometown.
"No One Survives"
Her two most important detectives, Hercule Poirot (hereinafter referred to as Poirot) and Jane Marple (hereinafter referred to as Marple), are the creators of beautiful scenery.
The former is a globetrotting enthusiast, and due to his respected status and discerning personality, most of the places he travels and stays are luxurious and exquisite places. Politicians and celebrities come and go, and the various characteristics of gentlemen and ladies can be seen. The latter lives in the picturesque English countryside, where green grass, babbling streams and breathtakingly beautiful flowers are drilled out of the stone walls.
Different landscapes and different customs and people have become important elements in Agatha's works, and the temperature of life has slowly flowed out.
The presentation of these plots, on the one hand, enriches the content of the story, adds a certain degree of interest to the plot, and makes the reader fascinated by the customs and customs of various European countries in the 19th century; on the other hand, it greatly alleviates the tense and depressing atmosphere of the murder.
"Miss Marple Detective"
Looking at Agatha's work, we can see that many scenes of the final trial are completed in the "tea party" of drinking tea and eating snacks, and in the process of Miss Marple's investigation, even the reasoning of the case is completed by knitting sweaters. In a relaxed atmosphere, the feeling of bloody horror is stripped away, and the cracking process of the case is more like an intellectual game of dialogue between the author and the reader, making people feel the joy of reading in the process of seeking the truth.
This is the romance and gentleness peculiar to female authors, and it is also lacking in many male speculative fiction authors, who prefer to spend energy setting up mysteries and tricks, or extending to a deeper humanity and social nature, but are not willing to apply romance in the details of life.
Therefore, many reasoning works will also set the scene in the castle, manor and other environments, but the purpose is mostly to render the horror atmosphere, often the mystery has not been rolled out, it is already creepy.
The playful detective image makes the case interesting
Agatha's interest in life is also extremely rich in the image of the detective in her works.
Agatha's work is dominated by a series of cases, and we take the example of the two most important detectives, Poirot and Marple: the former is a cute little old man from Belgium, who looks good, is short and bloated, and has a brain shell that looks like a "shelled egg", which is "greasy" according to today's standards.
Poirot, played by David Suchet
But the "greasy" appearance does not hide his personal interest in life. For example, he loves food, especially chocolate; for example, he loves to travel around the world, likes to interact with different people, chat, and enjoy life; for example, he is extremely particular about clothing and clothing, always wearing a well-tailored striped suit and vest, pedaling brand-name leather shoes, and keeping a straight and neat figure-eight beard. In Sin in the Sun, even in the sweltering heat of the sea, he insists on wearing a Panama hat and a spotless white suit, just for fear that the weather is so hot that his beard will hang down or that the hair dye will flow to the collar.
Miss Marple, on the other hand, is almost "the grandmother next door", and in the books she always "habitually sits there." He wore a tweed suit, a simple bead necklace, and a beanie hat." Her daily life is very rich: knitting yarn, gardening, shopping, drinking tea, bird watching, etc., which not only provides her with the convenience of evidence search, exploration and interrogation, but also allows us to have a certain understanding of the old-fashioned British rural life when reading.
The characteristics of Miss Marple's words make the characters more playful and add a lot of interest to the work. The English countryside is full of people of all kinds: mouthy neighbors, heavy old gentlemen, unreliable young people, all kinds of people with various opinions on things, lips and swords, sparks. Miss Marple's clues to solving the case gradually become clear in the chaotic world of broken mouths.
To tell the truth, it is too impractical to let an elderly lady run around like a young man and go to heaven to find evidence, so leprosy has a place. People around the periphery of sin often point out the gossip of the willow without heart. And people of different temperaments together can often create a ridiculous effect, making the otherwise terrible case interesting.
Poirot also has the characteristics of leprosy, in "Murder on the Orient Express", the whole case he spends most of his time talking to people, although it is of a cross-examination nature, but in the process, the character image is vividly and vividly displayed in front of people: some are arrogant and picky, some are timid and cautious, and some are kind and weak. In the process of watching, in addition to studying the case, the study of the personality and psychology of each character also becomes a kind of fun.
1974 murder on the Orient Express
The exquisite dress, love of sweets, colorful daily life, tuberculosis, etc., these highly characteristic characters are the embodiment of female thinking, more delicate and playful. They love detectives, they love life as much, and in their world, enjoying life and detectives is no conflict. This is easily distinguishable from other famous detectives.
Detectives in other well-known works often have very obvious male characteristics: or a genius type like Holmes, who likes to immerse himself in his own logical world, has a cold temperament, isolation, conceit, and does not like to interact with people; or like Perry Mason, who is upright and upright, with the goal of maintaining the justice of the law, and has a calm and serious personality.
In their lives, it seems that only the truth of the case is the only pleasure, and it is difficult to have any connection with the taste of life. In The Four Signatures, Watson had an evaluation of Holmes as "as ruthless as a machine in the course of an investigation."
The case is cold, but life is warm, and when the happy and interesting parts of life are integrated into the case, the originally dark and cold sin also becomes gentle and interesting.
【Text/Little Bear Star】
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