Mrbrown43 This is going to be the first of a long line of films based on Agatha Christies works; they are a pretty great series of movies that need to be talked about. Deserve to be talked about. So here are my thoughts on Five Little Pigs. When Hercule Poirot(David Suchet) is called on by Lucy Crale(Aimee Mullins) to prove that her mother Caroline Crale(Rachael Stirling) innocent for killing her husband Amyas Crale (Aidan Gillen) due to having an affair with another woman. The murder happened 14 years ago which Caroline hanged for the killing. Over the course of the film, with no access to the crime scene or police files he pieces together a picture of events just from the five people present to the days leading up to the murder. Elsa Greer(Julie Cox) the woman Amyas Clare was painting and having an affair with. Phillip Blake(Toby Stephens) Amyas's best friend who hated Elsa for the affair. Meredith Blake(Marc Warren) Bother to Phillip Blake who harboured feelings for Caroline as well hating Elsa for tearing the family apart. Miss Williams(Gemma Jones) The family governess devoted to Charoline and hated Amyas.Angela Warren(Sophie Winkleman/ Talulah Riley) An disfigured archaeologist. All five have their own version of events, all the same yet slightly different. Only armed with his intelligence and reason Hercule Poirot tries to make sense to see what really happened. The acting as per usual is extremely good, everyone has a number of skeletons in their closets and they all have heavy emotional burdens on them thanks to the murder. Toby Shephens in particular plays his part really well; you can feel the trauma and bitterness for losing his friend every time he is on screen. He should be applauded. The performances really add to the overall sorrowful atmosphere the film has. I really love to the idea of five possible unreliable narrators telling similar yet slightly different version of events, it keeps the audience guessing as to whom the killer is or if there is one at all. I really enjoy that the film actually uses the point of view shots and makes sure that the character telling their side of the story will only show them events that they were able to see or be present to. I have seen a lot of films where the movie shows the audience something that the character e telling it was not present despite the film asking us to believe the character was there. Five little pigs stand out and is better as a result because of this little aspect. Unlike most Agatha Christie adaptation there is a very sorrowful atmosphere to the whole thing, themes like loss of childhood innocence lost and betrayal run deep in the narrative, the air of nostalgia for a simple time further add to mournful tone of the film. I like this because it differences itself from the tamer and fluffy adaptations. It feels more grounded in reality as well as having a compelling edge to it. However it sadly does fall into melodrama towards the end and does get a little silly, it kind of spoils the film's serious tone but it is not a deal breaker per say, just something that prevents the film from really becoming something special. I would say that Five Little Pigs is well worth the watch.

thirstyfriend : I'm quite opinionated when it comes to Agatha Christie's books-turned-movies, but this one was simply great (ignoring a minute comparison with the book).I liked pretty much everything, from the actors, and I LOVED Rachael Stirling's performance as Caroline Crale, to the directing filled with flashbacks. Everything was so tense that you could even feel the powerful emotions and feelings the characters were going through. You could even feel sorry for the murderer in the end, as you were made to understand exactly what he was going through. Once again, I have to say that the acting was top quality.One of my favourite episodes!

Edu-16 Quite the best Christie adaptation I or my wife have seen to date. We were particularly surprised by how emotionally engaged we were. Where as with most detective stories you remain dispassionate, quietly observing from the outside, FLP draws you in to care about the characters and come the final denouement we are both intellectually and emotional rewarded by the resolution.The direction and story telling are perfect - cutting neatly between the present and five flashback accounts of the same 14 yrs old incident. We are led gently up all manner of garden paths, and even allowed to think we've 'nailed it' only to have our smugness shot down in the final reel. The acting is far above the norm, and the casting, especially of the flashback 'younger versions', particularly effective.FLP is lovely to look at - with a nice contrast for the flashbacks to a heightened, over exposed look, and lovely to listen to - the score is a magnificently clever variation of the basic Poirot theme.Yes - an all round joy that we even wanted to watch again the next day. A 'whodunit first' for us!

bensonmum2 Finally! I've now seen all of the feature length installments of the Poirot movies featuring David Suchet. And wouldn't you know it – the last one I watch just happens to be one of the best of the entire series.Five Little Pigs, which happens to benefit from staying fairly true to Agatha Christie's original work (at least as best as I can remember), is a poignant, gut-wrenching, and beautifully filmed movie. As Christie did in her novel, the mystery is told though a series of five interviews that flashback to that fateful day when a murder was committed. Director Paul Unwin handles this portion quite nicely. I was worried about all the hand-held shaky-cam, but it works well for the iffy memories of events of fourteen years previous. Even though I knew the outcome, I thought the mystery elements were well done. I think someone without knowledge of the plot would really enjoy this part of Five Little Pigs. The acting, other than the abysmal performance of Aimee Mullins as the adult Lucy, is more than acceptable. By now (or by 2003 at least), Suchet has grown in the role of Poirot to the point that I cannot imagine anyone else even attempting to do the character. Two other real highlights for me were the music (it's quite beautiful) and the photography (there are some gorgeous landscape shots throughout the movie). All together, an 8/10 seems about right by me. Had the adult Lucy not been so distractingly poorly played, I could have easily rated Five Little Pigs higher.