My husband and I just finished watching all of the seasons for about the fourth time. And then we watched the extras. Suchet answers a series of questions about what is essentially the role of his life. He described how he studied all the stories and kept a voluminous file about how Poirot dressed, ate, walked, spoke, etc. -- all that allowed David Suchet to disappear into the persona of Hercule Poirot, not an actor playing a character, but becoming one.
A bit of trivia I found particularly interesting was Suchet's discussion of Poirot's accent. In the stories he is often mistaken for a "frenchie" or a "frog." He always corrects the mistake, obviously proud of his Belgian heritage. But Suchet pointed out that, in order to be mistaken for French, Poirot could not have a pure Belgian accent because Belgian French is more guttural. For an actor to pay that much attention to a role impressed me. He also said sometimes he goes out on the street and can look at the world through Poirot's eyes. Many actors make the character conform to themselves; Suchet was determined to make David Suchet disappear into Poirot. And he certainly did!
What if we did that in our relationship with Jesus? Listening to the interview made me want to study every scene in the Gospels with Jesus and to make a file describing everything about Him: how He looked, how He spoke, how he interacted with others.
What was it like to see Him weep over Jerusalem and then weep at the tomb of Lazarus? Were there other episodes of weeping or mourning? How did He look and sound as He said to Judas, "What you are going to do, do quickly." I want to know Jesus as intimately as I can. If I study all the times in the scripture when he went to a lonely place to pray will my prayer time be more like His? How many times did Jesus experience loneliness, rejection, contempt and how did He respond? How did He receive praise and gratitude? What a project it could be to study everything in scripture about Jesus from the first moment of His existence at the Incarnation until His ascension into heaven.
One of the things I loved about the Poirot series was the way the writers showed his piety and devotion. He reaches for his rosary on the Orient Express and grasps it as he lies dying in the last episode, Curtain, praying for God's mercy. Often in the background there is a crucifix on the wall or some other object of devotion. Several characters in the stories are Catholic or Orthodox and their faith is involved in the story. Suchet himself is from a mixed religious family, Jewish and Anglican, but he was raised without religion. Studying the bible led him to embrace the Anglican faith in 1986 and he expresses Poirot's Catholic piety realistically and with fervor.
Agatha Christie was, herself, an Anglican, but her second marriage was to a Roman Catholic, Max Mallowan, an archaeologist who was thirteen years younger. Her adventures with Max led to mysteries that took place at archaeological sites in exotic places. Jane Marple, Christie's other most famous detective, was Anglican, a faith Christie remained in for the rest of her life. In many ways Jane Marple resembles Chesterton's Fr. Brown with her clear understanding of human nature in all the villagers of St. Mary Mead. I love both of Agatha Christie's creations who are both wise and honest. They are among my favorites in the genre of who-done-its. Agatha Christie, however, disliked Poirot and found him burdensome over the years. She grew to despise him, but continued to write stories about him because her audience loved him! It makes me wonder who is in control, the author or the character. Arthur Conan Doyle experienced the same ambivalence with Sherlock Holmes.
Life is a mystery and a journey of discovery. Perhaps that's why mystery stories appeal to so many of us. G.K. Chesterton loved mysteries and even created a masterful sleuth in Fr. Brown based on a real-life priest, Fr. John O'Connor. Did Agatha Christie have real-life models for Poirot and Marple? Perhaps. When she was growing up during World War I she knew Belgian refugees in the U.K. and there's speculation that Poirot was modeled on a retired Belgian police officer named Jacques Hornais. Jane Marple's characteristics came from Christie's grandmother and her elderly friends who had a keen insight about ordinary family life.
If I were going to use a real person as an inspiration for a detective whom would I choose? I think my sister Laura who loves to delve into things and see the wider picture. She's coming next week and we're going to harvest sixteen frames of honey. Maybe we'll plan a murder mystery while we work and call it Murder at the Honey Harvest.
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