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Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar (2019) is a charming little film that concocts a story around the period of 11 days in Agatha Christie’s life where she went missing. At only 90 minutes in length, there’s a lot of backstory left out in this film, mainly that it never mentions Christie’s first marriage being on the rocks after she found out about her husband’s affair. Heck, it doesn’t even mention him. We are just dropped into the middle of Christie’s world, given a few thin details about her being vaguely unsatisfied and in a creative rut, before she’s off to Iraq to “research love” and meet-cute with future husband #2 while investigating a murder mystery with supernatural overtones.
Despite being annoyed by the lack of, well, anything actually giving context to why Agatha Christie is searching for love and bored with her life as a famous author, I did enjoy this film. Lindsey Marshal is very watchable in pretty much any role, and she excels at playing quirky, resourceful heroines, so she carried the thin plot contrivances well enough that I could set aside my nitpicky side and just sit back and let the art wash over me. The costumes, designed by Nigel Egerton (The Confessions of Frannie Langton, The Hollow Crown), are fairly standard “1920s English Murder Mystery” chic, with lots of nice separates and a few flashy dinner dresses to break up the monotony.
Have you watched Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar (2019)? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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I think Christie later based a murder victim on Mrs. Wooley.
Agatha Christie and The Truth About Murder is the TV movie that is based on her disappearance, not this one. This move takes place two years after the previous movie. Ruth Bradley plays Agatha Christie in that movie.
She loved travel, and really fell hard for the Middle East. She helped on digs with Max!
I remain deeply, deeply charmed by Ms Lindsey Marshal being so devoted to the Christie Industry that she’s played in both POIROT and MARPLE, then gone on to repeatedly play a sleuthing Dame Agatha herself.
Not going to lie, I really hope she gets a shot at playing a role in some DEATH COMES AS THE END adaptation so she can broaden her ‘Ancient Egyptian’ portfolio to boot.
No, I haven’t seen this one. In my mind, Lindsay Marshal will forever be Cleopatra. She’s a good actress, though. I’ll add this one to my watch list.