Death on the Nile (2022) is a film adaptation of Agatha Chrisitie's novel of the same name produced from 2019 onwards. Directed by Kenneth Branagh and with a screenplay by Michael Green, its release was delayed by several years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film was finally released in February 2022.
The film stars Kenneth Branagh in the lead role as Hercule Poirot with Tom Bateman reprising a (non-canonical) role as Bouc from Branagh's first Poirot outing in the 2017 film Murder on the Orient Express.
Comparison with original novel[]
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)
- Several characters have been omitted, and a few new characters have been added to the film. The backstories of many of the characters from the novel have been changed. The backstories of some omitted characters have been given to other characters. In general this is done so that most of the passengers on the boat have some grievance or motive, but sometimes a different one from what was given in the original novel. The passengers are all guests of Linnet and Simon's wedding party which takes place at the First Cataract Hotel at Aswan. They are then suddenly whisked off by Linnet and Simon onto the Karnak in order to avoid Jacqueline.
- For details of the changed backstories of characters, see the individual character pages. New characters are:
- Dr Windlesham shares a name and a parallel backstory with Charles Windlesham from the original novel. Both had once proposed to Linnet and were refused. There is no Carl Bessner, Dr Windlesham is the only physician onboard the boat. Windlesham has some of the characteristics of Mr Ferguson, in that he is a Lord but refuses to use his aristocratic title but he is not an out and out socialist although he is devoted to serving humanity.
- Bouc from the previous Branagh film Murder on the Orient Express (2017 film) appears again. He is a friend of Linnet and a guest at her wedding. He has some of the characteristics of Tim Allerton and some plot roles taken from other characters such as James Fanthorp and Salome Otterbourne from the original.
- Euphemia Bouc is Bouc's mother. She has some of the characteristics of Mrs Allerton.
- There is a flashback sequence showing Poirot as a soldier during the First World War. He comes up with an idea which allows his unit to attack their objective with minimal casualties but is unable to prevent his captain from getting killed and himself seriously wounded by a trip-wire booby trap. He ends up in hospital where he meets an English nurse named Katherine whom he apparently already knew. She convinces him to grow a mustache to conceal the injuries to his face. During the course of the film, he looks at Katherine's photo now and then. In Orient Express he did the same, but there the audience was not told who this Katherine was or their backstory.
- There is considerably more "action". Poirot, quite uncharacteristically, handles a gun and brandishes it. There is a chase scene through the ship's kitchen. Otherwise the main premise of the plot, most of the major incidents, how the murder was committed and how it is uncovered is fairly similar to the original novel.
- Changes in tropes and clues:
- Euphemia Bouc paints as a hobby. She is missing a tube of red paint because it is stolen. Poirot spots this because he notices that in her painting, Bouc is wearing a green jacket although it is actually red. In the book, the fake blood is produced with ink kept in a bottle of nail polish. According to Poirot, earlier he had heard Simon reprimand Louise Bouget for forgetting to pack Linnet's red nail polish. This reprimand for a trivial error was because he had planned to use the nail polish as the fake blood. Without this, he was forced to steal Euphemia Bouc's red paint.
Cast[]
The names are listed in the order as they appear in the credits at the end of the film. There are also a large number of uncredited extras--see the IMDB entry for details.
- Michael Rouse as Private Laurin
- Alaa Safi as Corporal
- Orlando Seale as Captain Rens
- Charlie Anson as Sergeant Verhaeren
- Danny Hughes as Soldier 1
- Sam James Page as Soldier 2
- Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot
- James Schofield German Soldier 1
- George Jaques as German Soldier 2
- Jonah Rzeskiewicz as German Soldier 3
- Eleanor de Rohan as Nurse
- Susannah Fielding as Katherine
- Adam Garcia as Syd (Photographer)
- Rick Warden as Monsieur Blondin
- Noel White as Maître d' at Chez Ma Tante
- Riches Edward as Rhythm Guitar (Band)
- Letitia Wright as Rosalie Otterbourne
- Sophie Okonedo as Salome Otterbourne
- Dan Ellis as Drums (Band)
- Megan Affonso as Piano (Band)
- Gwen Reed as Upright Bass (Band)
- Jay Phelps as Trumpet (Band)
- Lois Au as Saxophone (Band)
- Emma Mackey as Jacqueline de Bellefort
- Armie Hammer as Simon Doyle
- Gal Gadot as Linnet Ridgeway
- Tom Bateman as Bouc
- Annette Bening as Euphemia Bouc
- Rose Leslie as Louise Bourget
- Ali Fazal as Katchadourian
- Rosie Dwyer as Hotel Staff 2
- Jennifer Saunders as Marie Van Schuyler
- Dawn French as Bowers
- Niamh Lynch as Female Porter
- Nari Blair-Mangat as Hotel Staff 3
- Russell Brand as Windlesham
- Sid Sagar as Concierge
- Brenda-Jane Newhouse as Hotel Receptionist
- Rhiannon Clements as Hotel Administrator
- Daniel Cook as Hotel Staff 1
- Heider Ali as Spice Market Merchant
- Hayat Kamille as Snake Handler
- Crispin Letts as Officer Besner
- Victor Alli as Marc Yves
- Rachel Feeney as Maxine Cardiff
- Sarah Eve as Hattie Pyne
- Aron Julius as Will Goodwin
- Francis Lovehall as Allerton Mcnaught
- Stacy Abalogun as Elinor Glyn
- Naveed Khan as Captain Mahmoud
- Katie Smale as Berel Genevese
- Kemi Awoderu as Alessande Johar
Filming locations[]
- Longcross Studios, Surrey - most scenes were shot at Longcross Studios. The Cataract Hotel and the Karnak were built as sets.[1][2][3]
- Cotswold Water Park/Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve - spice market scene, some water scenes
- Egypt and Morocco - second unit filming for establishing shots.