Loyally accompanying her husband on a visit to his tiresome aunt Ada, Prudence Beresford spends some time walking around in a rather posh care institution for the elderly. There she meets with a stranger, to wit a very old lady who rambles on in a confused fashion about somebody's child being hidden in the fireplace. A short time later Prudence discovers that the said lady has disappeared. Did someone transfer the old dear to another, equally expensive care home better suited to the completely gaga ? Or did someone spirit her away, out of fear that she might say something factually true but dangerous ? Prudence sets out to investigate...
"Mon petit doigt m'a dit..." is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie book called "By the pricking of my thumbs", which, by the way, sounds considerably more ominous. If I may put in my two cents, "By the pricking" is not one of the Great Dame's finest. It's got an excellent central idea, an eerie atmosphere and an ingenious hook, but it loses itself in all kinds of details and asides. After a while keeping track of the narrative becomes as difficult as keeping track of a litter of adventurous pups : while one pup is doing backflips on its mother's head, a second pup is destroying a cushion, a third is climbing into a grocery bag, and so on.
The movie, interestingly enough, shares many of the same characteristics. It starts out very well, with a sudden sense of something old and monstrous rearing its head under circumstances of everyday banality, and for a while the story proceeds with an admirable clarity. Arrives an unnecessary subplot about stolen diamonds and from that moment on the movie wanders off in several directions all at once. Unsurprisingly the final reveal does not have the bone-chilling impact it could have had.
"Mon petit doigt" testifies to a considerable sense of humor, although I doubt Agatha Christie would have recognized it as her own ; it is too freewheeling and antic for that. Some of the jokes work, others don't. There's also a sense of surrealism which is further enhanced by the well-chosen sets and locations. The props, which include a large wall-painting and a series of paintings, are excellent.
Protagonist Catherine Frot is pretty funny as a young and stubborn grandmother who won't let her love for her various descendants interfere with her own life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
I gather "Mon petit doigt" is the first in a series of similar Agatha Christie adaptations based on the Beresford characters, but this is the only one I've seen so far.
"Mon petit doigt m'a dit..." is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie book called "By the pricking of my thumbs", which, by the way, sounds considerably more ominous. If I may put in my two cents, "By the pricking" is not one of the Great Dame's finest. It's got an excellent central idea, an eerie atmosphere and an ingenious hook, but it loses itself in all kinds of details and asides. After a while keeping track of the narrative becomes as difficult as keeping track of a litter of adventurous pups : while one pup is doing backflips on its mother's head, a second pup is destroying a cushion, a third is climbing into a grocery bag, and so on.
The movie, interestingly enough, shares many of the same characteristics. It starts out very well, with a sudden sense of something old and monstrous rearing its head under circumstances of everyday banality, and for a while the story proceeds with an admirable clarity. Arrives an unnecessary subplot about stolen diamonds and from that moment on the movie wanders off in several directions all at once. Unsurprisingly the final reveal does not have the bone-chilling impact it could have had.
"Mon petit doigt" testifies to a considerable sense of humor, although I doubt Agatha Christie would have recognized it as her own ; it is too freewheeling and antic for that. Some of the jokes work, others don't. There's also a sense of surrealism which is further enhanced by the well-chosen sets and locations. The props, which include a large wall-painting and a series of paintings, are excellent.
Protagonist Catherine Frot is pretty funny as a young and stubborn grandmother who won't let her love for her various descendants interfere with her own life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
I gather "Mon petit doigt" is the first in a series of similar Agatha Christie adaptations based on the Beresford characters, but this is the only one I've seen so far.