Being Hercule Poirot
Watch the film and find answers to the following questions:
1. What does the image of Hercule Poirot mean to David Suchet?
Hercule Poirot is much more than the character on the written page.
Hercule Poirot, for him, almost is a real person.
2. When did A. Christie’s “Poirot” series premier on TV?
Agatha Christie's Poirot
premiered on television in 1989.
3. Why is the series called “a global phenomenon”?
'A quarter of a century and 13 series later,
it's a global phenomenon,
watched by 700 million viewers in 100 countries worldwide.
4. Why was the final episode the most difficult day for Suchet? How did he feel?
he feels and he feels the character very deeply.
I think every time he shoots it, it's going to take more out of him.
For a character actor of his intensity,
to lose someone he's been completely involved and absorbed in
for 25 years...
is a personal tragedy.
5. How did Hercule Poirot look in the “Curtain”?
he looks like a little sack of bones in a suit.
6. When was the “Curtain” written? When was it published?
'Curtain, Poirot's last case, was written by Agatha Christie in 1942.
7. What is the special place for David Suchet in his understanding of Poirot? Why?
Agatha Christie's house. in this place Getting the approval of Agatha Christie's family was crucial
for him before for his life as Poirot began.
8. Who and why chose him to play the role?
he had lunch with Agatha Christie's daughter Rosalind and her husband Antony Hicks.
And they said to him,"We want the audience to be able to smile with Poirot but never laugh at
him.
9. How did the image of the detective come about?
10. When and where was Hercule Poirot introduced?
Poirot was introduced to the world in 1920 as a World War I Belgian refugee in Agatha Christie's
first book, The Mysterious Affair At Styles.'
11. What is David Suchet’s opinion of Agatha Christie?
12. What did Agatha Christie think of Hercule Poirot?
13. When did Hercule Poirot appear on the stage for the first time?
in a London Theatre in 1928
14. When was the 1st film about Hercule Poirot shot?
'In 1931, three years after Poirot first appeared on stage,
Alibi was filmed for the cinema with a new Poirot.
15. What was the oldest surviving film of Poirot?
'The oldest surviving Poirot film is Lord Edgware Dies from 1934,
16. What film did David Suchet watch while working over the role?
he watched Murder On The Orient Express
as part of my research when developing the character.
17. How did David Suchet work over the role? What did he note about his character?
18. Why did the actor give Poirot the head voice?
Poirot is not really connected with his emotions.
He's connected with his head.
19. What kind of walk did Poirot have?
Poirot crossed the lawn with his usual rapid, mincing gait
20. What was the location for Poirot’s flat?
21. When were all the stories in the series located? Why were all the stories located in that time?
22. What did David note about other actors and their roles?
23. What role did the music play in the film?
That music, along with many other elements, defines the series.
24. How many tunes were presented to the director? Does the composer like the chosen melody
most of all?
four different tunes. number four is his favourite.
25. How did the composer work over the central tune?
26. Why does David Say that not all people have heard his voice even though they have seen the
series?
27. What story tells about Poirot’s past?
28. What was the cause of death in the story?
29. What’s the mystery that Poirot is not able to solve?
The nature of love
30. Who was his first love? What was the symbol of their love?
his first love was Virginie Mesnard. The symbol of their life was a little silver brooch which she
gived to him.
31. Why wouldn’t he get married?
No-one could put up with
his own weird eccentricities as a person.
Poirot was a lonely man
but what he does with his life is solving crimes.
32. What do the Belgians think about Poirot?
They are proud because he solved matters the English couldn't solve.
33. What is written in Poirot’s birth certificate?
Born in Ellezelles
on l'Avril 1st.
April Fools' Day.
34. Is Poirot a religious man? What does he believe in?
Agatha Christie makes him, being Belgian, Catholic. He believes that 'le bon Dieu' - the good God -has
put him on this earth to rid it of crime while he is still alive and able to do so.
35. What was the most challenging part of the series? Why?
36. How does David Suchet feel at the end of the series? What is he grateful for?
