Teresa Reviews Towards Zero (2007)

Teresa Reviews Towards Zero (2007) and found L’Heure zero a great version with some French weirdness.

(c)2023 by Teresa Peschel

Fidelity to text: 4 blunt objects

Remarkably close, with added French weirdness. Don’t miss that musician merry-go-round complete with a bassoonist!

Quality of film: 4 blunt objects

Funny, fast-paced, coherent, although there were some missed chances to make Ange Werther’s deduction more plausible and less a wild, lucky guess because he wanted to rescue the damsel.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.

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This is my fourth version of Towards Zero and my third French adaptation. It’s criminal that one of Agatha’s finest novels has only one English-language version and it stars Miss Marple. Of the three French versions, this is the best by miles. Innocent Lies (1995) was so dreadful the estate demanded that every reference to Agatha Christie be removed. Avoid it at all costs unless you keep brain bleach lying around. The season two episode of Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie: L’Heure Zéro (2019) boiled Agatha’s plot down to one sentence, added unqualified secretaries, incompetent French cops, turned everyone onscreen into sex maniacs, and pressed puree.

As you can imagine, I didn’t have high hopes for another French production. But, this one’s directed by Pascal Thomas who directed three very French versions of Tommy & Tuppence and produced amusing to watch films even if they didn’t always fully succeed or hold together, plot-wise.

That’s what he did here. He used — oh my God! — the novel.

You’ll meet the lawyer, Mr. Trevoz (Mr. Treves), discussing court cases with a flock of junior lawyers. He tells them the murder isn’t the beginning. It’s the end of a much larger story and it took many, many incidents and much time to arrive at zero hour when someone dies. Figuring out whodunnit is the aftermath.

You’ll meet Ange Werther (Angus MacWhirter) recovering from a suicide attempt. His nurse informs him that his life isn’t his own. He survived because someone else, who he may never meet, needs him.

Next, you’ll meet Le Commissaire Bataille (Inspector Battle) at his daughter’s posh school. She’s admitted to pilfering but she’s not the thief. She’s so overwhelmed by stress that she’s ready to say anything to make the pressure and fear stop. Because of Sylvie’s suffering, Bataille will understand Aude’s (Audrey Strange) torment.

Then, exactly in line with the novel, the main participants get ready to assemble at Lady Tressilian’s house party. Her ward, Guillaume Neuville (Neville Strange). His despised second wife Caroline (Kay Strange). His much-preferred first wife Aude. The visiting family friend from Malaya, Thomas Rondeau (Thomas Royde). The overworked poor relation Marie-Adeline (Mary Aldin). Caroline’s louche friend with no visible means of support, Frédéric (Ted Latimer). Mr. Trevoz who tells a story over dinner about a murderer who got away with it as a child. And the staff of the butler, the housekeeper (they’re conducting an affair under the noses of their betters which is not from the novel but very French), and Lady Tressilian’s personal maid and nurse, Barrette.

Very quickly, the first death arrives. Mr. Trevoz dies of a heart attack in his hotel room. It’s tragic but he was known to suffer from heart disease and somehow, he lost his medicine. It was odd though. A sign claiming the lift was out of order mysteriously appeared when Trevoz returned to the hotel and then vanished after he climbed the stairs.

Then, the obvious murder occurs. Lady Tressilian’s discovered by the housekeeper, her head bashed in. Lady Tressilian’s personal maid is dead to the world, heavily drugged. The local police swing into action. Lucky for them, Bataille is holidaying at the resort across the cove from Lady Tressilian’s château and his nephew on the local force asks for help.

Marie-Adeline, who is a very sharp cookie, realizes that more is going on than meets the eye. She tells Bataille about Trevoz’s story about the child murderer. Thomas tells Bataille about the out-of-order sign on the lift. The staff admit what they overheard (but not what they were doing at the time they overheard it).

Caroline (who reeks of high-maintenance) screams and carries on upon arrival, during the visit, when the murder is discovered, and afterwards. She wants all the attention on her. She’s hysterically jealous of Aude, Guillaume’s first wife and you can see why. Compared to Aude, Caroline comes across as jumped-up white trash. The staff know, the family knows, Bataille knows, and you wonder why Guillaume married her. But compared to Aude, you will always know what Caroline thinks and feels. She’s an open book. No guessing with her!

Aude was perfect. She’s so cool and collected that you wonder what she is hiding. It’s something bad and traumatic. It’s not just the fallout from her divorce from perfect Guillaume who makes it plain he still wants her despite wife #2’s protests. Or her grief over her fiancé’s death by car accident (totally accidental or was it?). It’s something more, something that Bataille recognizes because he saw his daughter behave the same way.

This was one of those moments that a scriptwriter could run amok with. A capable and experienced commissaire like Bataille would spot a battered woman who’s hiding bruises, mental and physical. But nothing is ever said.

Guillaume is arrested for Lady Tressilian’s murder and then it’s proved it was a frame-up. It was Aude all along. She murdered Lady Tressilian but there’s no clear motive, other than money. The novel did a better job implying that Aude could use the inheritance. Here, despite Bataille saying the murder was motivated by hate, it could have been the money. It’s nearly always the money.

The pressure increases on Aude, until she races out to the cliff overlooking the cove. She’s ready to jump to make the pain stop when Ange stops her. This was the purpose the nurse at the hospital meant, all those months ago. He lived to save Aude. He’s smitten and gallantly tells her that he’ll save her.

Which he does, but this is again where the film’s internal logic didn’t match what the characters did. In the novel, Ange is helped along when the drycleaner mixes up his order with Neville’s reeking of dead fish suit. He’s already been avidly following the story on the news and knows everything that’s been publicly released. Then, he saves the damsel. Next, the drycleaner gives him the wrong suit and he starts thinking hard about how someone else could have murdered Lady Tressilian while fitting the circumstances. A suit reeking of dead fish? On the shoulders? You might step on a dead fish but it’s your shoes that will pay the price. Only dogs roll voluntarily on dead fish. If a man’s suit (with tailor’s marks, a missed opportunity for novel and film) reeks of fish, its because something went wrong.

Could it be done? Yes, if someone is a strong swimmer, is familiar with the château and the surrounding area, and used a rope to climb the cliff. Is there a rope? Yes, there is.

Here, you never see anything that Ange does to work out how the murder was committed, other than read articles about the crime. Not a single moment’s thought is shown. Nor does he have a convenient drycleaning mistake. No, he needs a rope and he finds one.

Events proceed until Bataille gets everyone out on the ferry and shoves Frédéric overboard to eliminate him from the suspect pool. Bataille’s thought process, similar to Ange’s, is classic and Miss Marple approved. Motive, opportunity, skillset, familiarity with the scene, and not being seen at the critical moment all lead to one suspect who fulfills each condition.

Zero hour arrives and the true murder, the murder of Aude Neuville is averted.

Marie-Adeline gets her happy ending with Thomas. Unfortunately, Aude and Ange don’t get theirs. But you’ll get your happy ending with this version of Towards Zero. It’s a winner, loaded with amusing moments and until the BBC makes a good version of the novel, this is the only winner you’ll get.