User Reviews

The Poirot series has always appealed to me because I love that era, but also because it's intriguing and interesting. This is no exception - actually, this is one of my favorites, if not THE favorite.

A young woman asks to meet Poirot and she explains that she believes her Mother was wrongly hanged for killing her Father. There are a number of flashbacks, beautifully arranged in accurate places. Every suspect is interviewed and gives their account on the story. One little pig is lying.

Not only did the incredibly sad story make an impact on me, but the hauntingly beautiful score which set just the right mood (mysterious, sad, haunting) for the movie. It is the cherry on top of a very beautiful, yummy cake.

Poirot: Five Little Pigs is one of the best movies I've seen. It just feels right. You just relax and enjoy the story - you don't have to cringe at bad actors. A truly beautiful, hauntingly sad movie.

I saw this when it first aired in 2003, when I was 11, and I was very impressed, really I was. Two years ago, I read the book, and I personally think the book is up there among the best with Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia. What impressed me most with the TV adaptation, which I got on video recently, was that some of the scenes, like the hanging scene, were genuinely haunting, and that's what I want to feel in a mystery. The music score gave that haunted feeling and some poignancy, in an already complicated story. As far as I can remember, the overall structure was faithful to the book, and I also liked the actress of Caroline Crale, as you really feel for her, and Amias was certainly hissable here in the way they made him behave. Marc Warren and Gemma Jones also do well as Meridith and Mrs Williams. Also what the writers got right were Angela's disfigurement and although it was changed, the ending with Lucy in the lovely dress was very effective. As ever, David Suchet is impeccable as Hercule Poirot, and he is helped by a brooding script. However there were two things I didn't like about the adaptation- the idea of Blake being homosexual(I don't think that was in the book), and Julie Cox was perhaps too old for Elsa. All in all, technically and visually it's a delight to look at, and I enjoyed this adaptation very much, though I do prefer the book. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

This is one of my personal top favorites of Christie's books, and I've always wondered why it hadn't been adapted for television; although considering how badly many of them have fared in the past, you figure maybe its just as well! Amazingly, this production has stuck remarkably close to the book - tight budgets and weather permitting - although it starts to derail badly a couple of times at the very end. Christie's books are sometimes quite dark and very adult, something which has usually been scrubbed out of the various movie and television versions, as they are dumbed down, cheered up, and "sanitized for your protection". However in this adaptation, the producers have instead chosen to "dive deep", and have come up with something surprisingly moving, which starts to edge towards Greek tragedy. In many ways, it stands head and shoulders above prior Poirots.

The casting has netted a very interesting group of actors, although as much as I admire Aidan Gillen's work he is the last person that I would have thought of for Amyas Crale - I would have looked for someone more like Denis Quilley. Suchet's work here is just about seamless, as he wisely takes a "less-is-more" approach to this serious outing. Its amusing to see Annette Badland in a minor role; she appeared memorably in a "Miss Marple" many years prior, as an unfortunate victim tied to a clothesline.

This film is incredibly good. The cast is uniformly good. The direction is clever and thoughtful. The music is beautiful. The script has all the essentials of the plot and remarkably faithful to the book. I would be quite willing to say it's the best Christie adaptation so far. It's so good in fact that it could have been made for the silver screen. I even forgive the fact that it isn't set on a rocky battlement as it is in the book - the documentary on the DVD explains why - budgetary constraints - and the water garden does just as well. All the heart-breaking tragedy from the book - and it is a tragedy, even for the culprit - is there. It bodes well for the next lot of Poirot films, and so too for the upcoming Miss Marples. I thank the producers for having the courage, which has paid off handsomely. Well done.

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!

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!

This is definitely one of the best, if not the best, adaptation of a Christie story, "Five Little Pigs," and certainly a top Christie story in itself.

A young woman, Lucy Crale, comes to see Poirot to ask for help in clearing her mother's name. Fourteen years earlier, Caroline Crale was hanged for the murder of her husband, an artist, Amyas Crale. Lucy promises that even if it turns out that her mother committed the murder, she will accept it, but she wants the whole truth.

Poirot then visits the five people who were present when the murder took place: Amyas' best friend, Philip Blake, a visitor at the Crale home when the murder happened; Philip's brother Meredith, from whom it is suspected that Caroline stole the poison used to kill Amyas; Elsa Greer, Amyas' lover and whose portrait he was painting; Caroline's half-sister, Angela, who is sure her sister was innocent; and Miss Williams, Lucy's governess. After hearing each story, Poirot knows the truth and reunites all of them to make the announcement.

The story unfolds neatly, and at the end, Poirot keeps you guessing. The flashbacks are beautifully, dreamily photographed, and the locations are lovely, as is the period atmosphere. The way the flashbacks were filmed is reminiscent of the flashback scenes in the feature film, "Murder on the Orient Express." The acting is superb, with David Suchet perfect as usual, and he's surrounded by some top talent, including Rachel Stirling, the brilliant Toby Stephens (he comes by his talent honestly, being the son of Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith!), Gemma Jones, and Patrick Malahide, Top drawer - don't miss it.

Five Little Pigs is one of my favourite novels of all time, when you love a book so much it's so often the case that any adaptation lets it down somewhat. Not the case with Five Little Pigs, this adaptation is glorious. Very few changes were made from the text, so plaudits to the team involved for creating such a sincere, quality version. I was a little underwhelmed by recent productions like Dumb Witness and Hickory Dickory Dock, Five Little Pigs is all together a more sophisticated and sumptuous production. The first thing you're aware of us is how lucky the team were with the weather, it was filmed on days of glorious sunshine, that adds to the feel of the story, it looks sensational.

The production values are superb, it looks amazing, I loved the music too, indeed the overall flavour of the episode is outstanding. The performances are truly great, Rachel Stirling, Gemma Jones, Aimee Mullins are all brilliant. Aidan Gillen is terrific as the handsome but aloof Amyas Crale, perfect casting indeed.

It's so well paced, the contrasts of colours and textures really help with the flow of the story, you get the brightness of the past, and the harshness of present day, after the tragic deaths have occurred.

Story telling at its very best, 10/10

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.

"Five Little Pigs" is an engrossing mystery that Hercule Poirot unravels many years after a murder and execution occurred. Agatha Christie's masterful mystery was first published in 1942 under the title, "Murder in Retrospect." That title seems to much better describe the story and film. The current title is taken from Poirot's reference in the story to the childhood rhyme, "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, etc." He said he would interview each of the five principal people who had been part of the story. But his linking that to the rhyme makes no sense at all. Perhaps it was one of the insertions by Christie to chide Poirot's English knowledge and translation for slight humor. And, why the later producers would change the title of the original story is as much a mystery to me.

But the story is a tremendous one in which Poirot agrees to try to find out the truth about the murder of Lucy Crale's father, Amyas Crale. Poirot agrees only with the stipulation that he will seek the truth, even if it meant that Lucy's mother, Caroline, was guilty. Caroline had been tried, found guilty and executed for the murder.

This is an unusual story, and sort of pioneering one, in which a mystery is probed and seen entirely in flashbacks. It's a masterful story and superb film production. Its conclusion is a testament to the need for caution and wise consideration of events and things one sees and hears, particularly regarding accusations of harm and crime.

This is a Poirot mystery that has none of the other familiar faces around the Belgian super sleuth. Here are a couple of poignant lines from the story.

Lucy Clare, to Poirot, "I've heard about you. The things you've done. The way you work. It's psychology. It's your forte, n'est-ce-pas?" Hercule Poirot, "C'est vrai. My success, it is founded in psychology, or, the 'Why?' of human behavior." Pointing to his head, he says, "It is this that I use."

Elsa Greer, "As soon as I laid eyes on him, I knew I had to have him."

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.

Wonky hand-held camera work and zooming into so closely as to cut off the actors faces at the eyebrows led me to losing interest in the plot. I much prefer the early episodes shot in the late eighties and early nineties

Regular readers of my comments know I have dozens and dozens here that complain about Christie films. Oh, I'll ramble on and on about the nature of detective narrative and how the filmmakers (different each time) always seem to apply formulas in ways that trample on the most fun parts.

What a sourpuss! What a killjoy!

But it all sets the stage for my enthusiasm over this project.

Here's the basic problem set. You must set the track of the story so that facts can be interpreted in different ways, "playing fair" with different outcomes. At the same time, there are important mechanics of narrative which move the viewer into the thing, detecting, writing, conspiring. And then we have the cinematic and theatrical needs. All that stuff about faces and places, character and rhythms, types of rhythms.

We have it all here, thanks to some smart people and the happy structure of the novel, which is a rashoman-like retelling of the same event. Each layer, each visit shows more and we know some versions will be lies.

Yes, I must admit the trick of the overly juggled hand-held camera and washed colors for the "movie within" was a bit amateurish and annoying. But forgivable, especially since this Poirot is so unlike all the other Suchet portrayals. This one is not a prissy joke, but a mind on legs, one that can be patient with a foolish world. Swapping directors around is so interesting because even with the same actor, you get a completely different character.

This one also has a higher level of acting talent than in the series stories.

I've remarked on Julie Cox before. Striking woman, something like an anorexic Polly Walker.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I absolutely loved this movie. It was VERY faithful to the book. And the book is a heart-breaking novel. I was moved to tears. There was only one MAJOR change, and that was (the usual) making a character gay. There was also a tense moment at the end, with an attempted assassination of the killer. This scene was never in the novel. (It's just a tense psychological moment.) But other than that, the movie was fantastic. An enjoyable cast and great storyline, and David Suchet once again plays the unbelievable Hercule Poirot. To summarize, the movie was an enjoyable experience, faithful to the original material unlike some episodes out there (*cough* Cards on the Table *cough*). Well done!

Simply haunting. One of the best Christie books and turned into a beautiful, movie. I would place this one along with Toward Zero, Endless Night, and the Hollow as the most heart wrenching books/movies of hers. The cast is stellar, the setting sublime. The background music is just haunting.

I have read and enjoyed Agatha Christie's novels since I was 10. This book was a clever well crafted story and is a showcase for Monsieur Poirot's considerable talents.

I have always enjoyed the television adaptations of the book and this was no exception. I would say that the adaption has stayed about 95% true to the novel and this is no mean feat.

I was slightly disappointed with the daughter - Lucy. I expected her to have a bit more fire, although she doesn't really have much to do with the story. I thought that the actress who played Caroline Crale was wonderful and fully met my expectations.

David Suchet as Poirot was, as ever, brilliant; I have seen him in several other roles and he is always believable but this is definitely my favourite.

One other comment - the lovely Marc Warren is fab as Meredith, just the sort of bumbling, slightly confused chap that Christie portrayed. So good that I could not connect him with "Hustle" until I looked him up on IMDb!

'Five Little Pigs'is a hauntingly beautiful film with brilliant performances from its entire cast, especially David Suchet (Hercule Poirot) and the amazingly beautiful,Rachael Stirling (Caroline Crale). I haven't read the novel, and so won't compare the film with the book. It is indeed a very sad, melancholic story which poignantly illustrates the dark shades of the human psyche,..there is very little alleviating about the film, and in my opinion that is how indeed it should be! The performances by the entire cast are first rate, and you indeed feel sorry for everyone involved...even the real murderer at the end. Another thing that struck me was that the "suffering" wife looked a lot better than the "other woman",who came across as childish in comparison... something that has also been rightly been commented upon by another reviewer! Another masterpiece from the "Poirot" series....go ahead and watch it...at least once...the story and the performances will stay with you for a long time, I promise! Agatha Christe was indeed the undisputed "Queen of Crime Fiction"...hats off to her !!

What a sorrowful, haunting tale. It's rarely that an adaptation is better than the original piece of work, and this is one such example. The movie is far more poignant and moving than the book, and possibly the best of all the Poirot adaptations.

Painter Amyas Crale is murdered, and his wife hangs for the crime. A decade and a half later, their daughter enlists Hercule Poirot to uncover the truth and clear her mother's name. Thus begins the journey of Poirot, who proceeds to interview the 'five little pigs' - the five other people who were present when the crime took place, thus donning the role of both suspects and witnesses, each with a different motive and a different version of the events that transpired.

The casting here is spot on and everyone does a fabulous job. The most riveting performance is undoubtedly Rachael Stirling's, who is pitch-perfect as the ill-fated Caroline Crale. Julie Cox as Elsa Greer is also very good, coming across exactly as the part was written by Christie herself.

Overall, this is one of the most beautiful episodes of Poirot and a must-watch. The 9/10 is only because Sophie Winkleman's 'bad eye' (her character, Angela Warren, has a disfigured, blind eye throughout the movie) isn't done up correctly in the denouement. In one particular shot, the makeup is off and both her eyes look fine. A rather noticeable flaw in a production that has otherwise been done with such painstaking attention to detail.

Out of all the Agatha Christie stories I've seen or read so far, "Five Little Pigs" is one of my favorites. This search for the truth about past events through a maze of (sometimes) conflicting flashbacks and viewpoints anticipates in many ways such later films as "Rashomon", "Basic", and even the very recent "Vantage Point" (2008). This adaptation, although artistically made (one transition shot in particular, from the golden-tinted past to the grey-toned present, is a real marvel), is weakened by a crucial bit of miscasting: Julie Cox as Elsa Greer. Not only is Cox too old for the role (she was 30 when this was made; Elsa is supposed to be a fresh, irresponsible teenage girl), but she is also far less attractive than Rachael Stirling who plays Caroline Crale, making it hard for the viewer to believe that her husband Amyas could be seduced by Elsa even temporarily, because Caroline beats her in beauty AND in youth (Rachael was 26 at the time), not to mention character. Considering the long history of fine casting in the "Poirot" series, this casting error is almost inexplicable. The other weak spot of the movie is the pointless turning of a supporting character from a straight to a gay man. But if you can overlook these 2 points, "Five Little Pigs" is a fine little mystery. (***)

This is a rather atmospheric production, the director has gone for moody shots to reflect a story where justice might have gone wrong as a young woman, Lucy Crale contacts Poirot to find out how her father, an artist dies 14 years earlier, a crime for which her mother was executed for and an incident which has always haunted her as she was a little girl at the time.

Lucy's father, Amyas was a womaniser, her mother, Caroline apparently put up with his philandering ways. His latest conquest was Elsa, a wealthy woman he was painting and who he had promised that he will leave his wife for.

The story is told in flashback as Poirot talks to various people who were present including family members, this leads to some unreliable narrators which Poirot has to fathom.

At one point a character tells Poirot to get on with it. An intriguing mystery but it does rather drag a bit which is always tends to be the case with feature length Poirot mysteries, hence the moody shots. Yet it did keep you guessing as to who is the culprit but I am not sure that it all hangs together well.