Towards Zero

2007
5.8| 1h43m| en| More Info
Released: 31 October 2007 Released
Producted By:
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Inviting the ex-wife to a family reunion when the none-too-secure new wife will be there hardly seems to be a recipe for success, and true to form, bodies have begun to stack up by the end of this cinematic update of a classic Agatha Christie tale. Luckily for the extended clan gathered at a sumptuous waterfront estate in Northern France, Inspector Martin Bataille is on hand to find out not only "who done it" but why.

... View More
Stream Online

The movie is currently not available onine

Director

Producted By

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!
Pluskylang Great Film overall
CommentsXp Best movie ever!
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
filmalamosa This movie is really a sort of satire of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero. Like Peter Sellers movies it tries to make this genre a comedy.A further complication is added to the comedy.. The murderer may have been Aude she walks due to the incompetence of the Poirot Marple Colombo detective.Guillaume is just plain crazy.The film pokes fun at stilted period English murder mysteries.However only the second wife Carolin was funny she was the best part of the movie.I have trouble recommending this....turning murder mysteries into comedy is just not my idea of entertainment plus the slap stick acting--particularly Guillaume towards the end and the servants through out is just a turn off and not funny.Do Not Rent.
dbdumonteil Pascal Thomas began his career with estimable French comedies; then, in the naughties,he began to adapt Agatha Christie,with "Mon Petit Doigt M'a Dit" feat Thomas and Tuppence Beresford (the names were Frenchified ) and he used again the husband-and-wife detectives in his latest effort "Le Crime Est Notre Affaire".I read "towards zero" a long time ago but I've got a vivid memory of it;once again the names were Frenchified : Nevile and Kay Strange (check the surname)became Guillaume and Caroline Neuville(sic);in the role of the wife ,Laura Smet (daughter of Johnny Hallyday and actress Nathalie Baye) overplays and turns the original character -an elegant mysterious woman- into a shrew :one really wonders why Guillaume fell for her.The book begins,if my memory serves me well,with a long chapter depicting the numerous characters :like in any Christie book,all MUST have a reason to commit a murder;the first fifteen minutes are faithful to Christie's spirit.So is the rest of the movie ,although it almost verges on parody and it has not the entertaining side of "Mon Petit Doigt".Thanks to Danielle Darrieux (an old lady who has been working since ... 1931!such a longevity is absolutely stunning and the actress is as good as when she used to make movies with Henry Decoin,Julien Duvivier,Max Ophuls or (yes!) Billy Wilder and Joseph Mankiewicz) who enjoys smoking opium ,this is worth a look ,at least on a rainy day.
Michal Zahálka Towards Zero is not one of Agatha Christie's more famous novels, but for a murder mystery lover it is almost an essential read. It has been several years since I read it, but I very distinctly remember how much I enjoyed it as well as the plot and the substantial twist.This French movie adaptation is set in present day Bretagne, but other than that remains - rather surprisingly - true to the book, more so than, for example, the Diana Rigg version of Evil Under The Sun. All important plot points remain intact. Not that this in itself signifies a great movie. Au contraire, vraiment - while the cinematography, setting, music and pacing are more or less good, many of the actors overact their characters to the point of becoming caricatures instead. The shrewish wife or the maid (vaguely reminiscent of Nancy Walker's Yetta in Murder By Death, nevertheless wholly unsuitable for a serious murder mystery) are best examples of this. Danielle Darrieux is, quite unsurprisingly, not among those, and her much too brief appearance as Aunt Camilla is the only real performance in the picture. François Morel as the detective comes close to one, but not quite close enough.Final verdict: Entertaining murder mystery with some hammy performances, fast pacing and a great twist by Dame Agatha herself. Also useful as a French listening comprehension practice, especially if you're as lucky as I am and your copy lacks subtitles.
writers_reign In 2005 Pascal Thomas adapted an Agatha Christie story for the screen, signed up Catherine Frot and Andre Dussollier for the leads and enjoyed the minor success which prompted him to do it again ergo Zero Hour. In my case top-billed Danielle Darrieux - still acting in her ninety first year - was all the inducement I needed to get it up at the box office and the fact that Thomas has made another competent film is a bonus. If you like movies in which the actors wear timeless, well-cut clothes, move in a well-appointed château with a seascape thrown in for good measure and behave in obligatory mysterious ways so that an eventual murder has been long anticipated then you won't be disappointed. Chiara Mastroianni, looking more like her father every day is also on hand to remind us what we lost when her father died and if she bears only a passing resemblance to her mother that's not so important because mum Catherine Deneuve is still very much with us. It's doubtful if Chiara will ever achieve the iconic status of her parents but she gets acting jobs because casting directors and producers know she can deliver rather than because of her genes. An enjoyable romp.