Crime Is Our Business

'Le crime est notre affaire' made in 2008 by Pascal Thomas was one of my holiday viewings this season. The film is the third in a series of screen versions of Agatha Christie's novels, adapted and transferred to France. More recently, the series 'Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie' uses the same formula. The general lines of the detective mystery are preserved, but the story and characters are updated and Gallicized. The tone is comedic. Agatha Christie was never a realistic writer, in her novels we have to accept a convention and a manipulation, the psychology of the characters is linked to the enigma that needs to be solved. The same goes for the films that adapt her novels. The result is sometimes pathetic, sometimes OK, sometimes better than that. 'Le crime est notre affaire' manages to amuse and relax, especially thanks to a team of quality actors including Catherine Frot, André Dussollier, Claude Rich, Chiara Mastroianni. They all seem to have had a good time filming and they manage to entertain us, the viewers, too.