Crooked House is the first Agatha Christie film I’ve ever seen… and I wasn’t disappointed. With suspicious character architypes, turbulent plot twists, the odd red-herring and timeless romance that came with it. The vintage nature of this film is one of classic murder mystery genre. Gilles Paquet-Brenner really highlighted the excitement and suspense through his use of cryptic close-ups and enigmatic mise-en-scene, in which he hinted every detail so subtly that it was almost invisible. Josephine’s symbolic diary is key. She is the only child in the house and sees herself as apprentice to the private detective (“Holmes and Watson”). It holds all her and others deepest, darkest secrets; presenting the idea of the unknown being right in front of your eyes. Which is again drawing on a traditional element of murder mystery, which everyone knows and loves. So, for the first Agatha Christie I’ve ever seen, it was exactly what I wanted from it.