David Suchet is no ordinary screen actor but a thespian of great ability. In Hollywood he remains an obscure supporting actor in films such as The Bank Job and A Perfect Murder. Elsewhere he is more familiar as the star of the long running British television series “Poirot,” which originally debuted stateside on PBS in the 1980s and has reappeared sporadically ever since on the A&E channel. Twelve of the newer episodes have been released on a DVD set, “Agatha Christie Poirot: The Definitive Collection.”
The best selling British mystery writer who created the character called Hercule Poirot is, ironically, the series’ weakness. Agatha Christie’s murder plots were often as intricate in their precision as the proverbial Swiss watch, only virtually impossible to wind-up in real life. If the skullduggery is hard to swallow, Poirot’s journey to truth is a source of fascination throughout the dozen mini-movies in “The Definitive Collection.”
The fastidious Belgian detective with a waxed mustache is easy to caricature and has been spoofed in previous movie adaptations. Suchet assumes the more challenging task of transforming Poirot into a fully fleshed, entirely believable human being. It comes down to his aptitude for imagining himself into a tricky role that walks the tightrope between drama and comedy. One slip in either direction and Hercule Poirot becomes a cartoon. Suchet’s iteration is amusing and serious, capturing his eccentric vanity and formidable ability. Suchet’s Poirot is a better man than the one his author conceived, an occasional victim of British xenophobia who rises above every occasion with his gift of seeing the whole from the fragments. He would have made an excellent archeologist or historian.
Suchet endows Poirot with the fierce expression of an agent of justice and the uneasy gestures of a fragile ego easily soothed by flattery. He is finicky as a cat about food and accommodations, frantically cleanly and unfailingly observant. “Hercule Poirot, he knows all,” he states. It’s an arrogant assumption borne out by his success in piecing together the obscure motives behind the murders he encounters.
Like several other series born in that grand era of British television production, the ‘80s, “Poirot” maintained standards for costuming, furnishing and art direction that must have given Messrs. Merchant and Ivory pause. Look closely at the letters on Poirot’s desk. Even the postage stamps are authentic.
