Towards Zero
Mar. 6th, 2025 07:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiI watched the new Agatha Christie adaptation of Towards Zero. It’s one of my favourite Christie books, so I really wanted to like it. Well, the settings and costumes are beautiful. I didn’t mind any of the casting. But it suffered from extensive changes of the basic plot, and I don’t understand why so many modern adaptations of Christie do this. It wasn’t as bad as The Pale Horse, but it sure didn’t work well. I think it’s because Christie’s plots are very tight, basically everything you ever learn about a character, or the things that happen, are essential to it. Even clothes descriptions are either clues, or points to essential characteristics. So if you change something in the plot, then you have to do a lot of additional changes to make the plot work, and in the end you are juggling a lot of eggs, and more often than not, it all ends in a mess. And often not necessary, because there is so much unsaid in a Christie novel that you can add a lot of stuff without changing the basic plot. Like making Mark black in the recent adaption of Murder Is Easy, or moving the timeframe to the 50s instead of 30s. The first change works because Mark is already an outsider in the little English village, so that change basically just underlines that. And the second change doesn't matter much as the original novel has few markers that says it’s set in the 30s anyway.
Spoilers below the cut.
In this adaption if Towards Zero the murder of Lady Tressilian by Nevile Strange in order to frame his ex-wife Audrey remains the same as in the book. However, they changed the whole reason for them divorcing, and with that they also changed Audrey’s personality, making her much more like Kay, which I think made it all more boring. Also, in the book Audrey is the only one who realizes that something is very wrong with Nevile, who is slowly galslighting her into becoming suicidal. But that bit is instead given to Roydes, which fundamentally changes his character too, and they also lets him go around accusing Nevile of the childhood murder he did, which completely removes the reason to murder Mr. Treves. So a completely new character is introduced as Lady Tresilian’s husband’s illegitimate child to explain that he is killed so he wouldn’t divulge that this bastard exists. Which still feels like a very flimsy excuse, especially as the bastard very quickly tells everyone who he is. And the way Mr. Treves is murdered is changed, which leaves a gaping plot hole. You see, as in the book a lot is made of how Nevile wouldn’t have time to kill Lady Tresilian as he isn’t in the house. But nothing is even said about the fact that Mr. Treves is staying in a hotel, so one would have to figure out how something from the house could reach the hotel… Something that is never necessary in the book, as Mr. Treves murder in the book is made to look like natural causes, while in the show he is very obviously murdered. .
I can buy that they made a composite character out of Angus MacWhirter, Superintendent Battle and his nephew Inspector Leach, but the changes they did was so weird. Now we get a deeply depressed Leach (Matthew Rhys basically doing his Perry Mason again), so Battle’s daughter are now suddenly Mr. Treves ward, and has a greatly expanded role, while still not doing anything super significant. She certainly doesn’t provide the same clue she does in the book.
Nevile, Lady Tresiliian and Kay were the only characters that got to keep their characters, which means most of the characters were more or less changed. The only change that I felt worked was Mary’s. I quite like that she and Roydes had exchanged letters, but I don’t think their relationship was well handled when he actually showed up.
So all in all I was underwhelmed. I’m well aware that things that work in books may not work in screen adaptations, but I found most of the changes here just weird, and not well grounded into the story.
Spoilers below the cut.
In this adaption if Towards Zero the murder of Lady Tressilian by Nevile Strange in order to frame his ex-wife Audrey remains the same as in the book. However, they changed the whole reason for them divorcing, and with that they also changed Audrey’s personality, making her much more like Kay, which I think made it all more boring. Also, in the book Audrey is the only one who realizes that something is very wrong with Nevile, who is slowly galslighting her into becoming suicidal. But that bit is instead given to Roydes, which fundamentally changes his character too, and they also lets him go around accusing Nevile of the childhood murder he did, which completely removes the reason to murder Mr. Treves. So a completely new character is introduced as Lady Tresilian’s husband’s illegitimate child to explain that he is killed so he wouldn’t divulge that this bastard exists. Which still feels like a very flimsy excuse, especially as the bastard very quickly tells everyone who he is. And the way Mr. Treves is murdered is changed, which leaves a gaping plot hole. You see, as in the book a lot is made of how Nevile wouldn’t have time to kill Lady Tresilian as he isn’t in the house. But nothing is even said about the fact that Mr. Treves is staying in a hotel, so one would have to figure out how something from the house could reach the hotel… Something that is never necessary in the book, as Mr. Treves murder in the book is made to look like natural causes, while in the show he is very obviously murdered. .
I can buy that they made a composite character out of Angus MacWhirter, Superintendent Battle and his nephew Inspector Leach, but the changes they did was so weird. Now we get a deeply depressed Leach (Matthew Rhys basically doing his Perry Mason again), so Battle’s daughter are now suddenly Mr. Treves ward, and has a greatly expanded role, while still not doing anything super significant. She certainly doesn’t provide the same clue she does in the book.
Nevile, Lady Tresiliian and Kay were the only characters that got to keep their characters, which means most of the characters were more or less changed. The only change that I felt worked was Mary’s. I quite like that she and Roydes had exchanged letters, but I don’t think their relationship was well handled when he actually showed up.
So all in all I was underwhelmed. I’m well aware that things that work in books may not work in screen adaptations, but I found most of the changes here just weird, and not well grounded into the story.
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Date: 2025-03-06 01:47 pm (UTC)That said, some of them have been good! I liked both And Then There Were None and Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, for example.
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Date: 2025-03-10 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 07:30 pm (UTC)Not unlikley! I read someone involved with another Christie adaption saying they "have" to do chnages as Christie is so well-known, but I think that is ridiculous. I don't watch an adaption to see how they have changed the original story, I watch it to see how they have interpreted it. And people who haven't read the original won't know it's changed anyway.
Why Didn't They Ask Evan? was so good! And very faitgul to the book.
Okay, I'm back having read the book and watched the first 30 minutes of the show, and I'm already annoyed at the changes because they aren't necessary, and they aren't adding anything to the story. Like, that plot is perfectly constructed on its own, and the characters are interesting and could be expanded in interesting ways. So why on earth make all these changes?
Yes, exactly! Why? I stuck it out to the end, but I won't ever re-watch it.
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Date: 2025-03-14 08:09 pm (UTC)I think there are a lot of people who just don't understand that there are different ways to engage with stories and "find out what happens" is only one of those ways.
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Date: 2025-03-15 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-07 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-11 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2025-03-14 07:24 pm (UTC)