A good start for the ,alas,final Poirot's outings.An atmospheric tragedy with a very creepy lunatic asylum,a beautifully shot Gothic mansion over a cliff with anxious Vanessa Kirby as a modern Gothic heroine searching for her own past,a double suicide ,a tormented shrink wonderfully played by Glen,a mysterious,malicious secretary played with a mischievous,treacherous smile by promising Alexandra Dowling ,the powerfully domineering Wanamaker as an overwhelming,unstoppable Ariadne Oliver and a big bunch of elephants played by a delicious helping of old actresses like Hazel Douglas and the formidable Caroline Blakiston. My only reservation is for Kingsley,too bland and solid for playing the tormented artist,Tom Riley would have been perfect for the part.But above all,wonderful Elsa Mollien as a dark,secretive Au Pair,matching in acting skills even the colossal Poirot played by Suchet.If you want hope against hope itself that Curtain will be shelved for two or three years giving space to another couple of seasons of Poirot,please,watch the confrontation among Mollien and Suchet in Paris.This is Poirot with all its beauty,its grace, its drama played with effortless,elegant understatement .Time Out can close like News of the World.How they can't understand that this and not Boring Broadchurch is British (and,I'm afraid,Universal) TV at its own possible best? I have of course my objections,but they are not so important:personally I would have given more space to the flashback story,having very interesting dramatic possibilities,cleverly hinted but not entirely developed.The murder in the present is not seamlessly patched with the older story(the presence of the young girl at Overcliffe in the tragic momentum of the crisis is sheer lunacy ,a singular blunder in a wonderful construction).But writing ,directing,acting,everything is so splendid that nothing can destroy its magic,its enchantment,its tragedy.Good work,Poirot.You rendered to us a sterling service,as general Ravenscroft would say.Elephants will remember forever wistfully this wonderful British series.
Review of Elephants Can Remember
