Babette Boutiti

In Le Crime est notre affaire the 2008 French adaptation by Pascal Thomas of 4.50 from Paddington, Babette Boutiti is the elderly aunt of Prudence Beresford and the parallel of Elspeth McGillicuddy. Babette Boutiti is portrayed by Anne Cordy.

Like Elspeth, she boarded a train, in her case at Matigny in Switzerland and is travelling to the Rhône-Alpes region of France. She is on her way to visit her niece Prudence. Towards the end of her journey, her train is overtaken by an express train and she sees someone being murdered in one of the compartments. She tells this to the conductor who doesn't quite believe her (she had been reading a novel with a similar scene on the cover!). Nonetheless he agrees to make an incident report but nothing comes of it. Fortunately for Babette, Prudence is bored of her life in retirement and jumps at the mystery.

To Prudence, her aunt Babette is a credible witness. She is a world authority on butterflies and goes to the Amazon to collect, classify and name them. She is a scientist and does not have the imagination to make up such a story.

Towards the end of the story, Prudence calls her back from the Amazon to take part in the denouement which happens much like in the original novel and in the Joan Hickson adaptation.