Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? A literary enquiry a documentary by Jean-Christophe Klotz
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- Jean-Christophe Klotz Contents page
- Script O – Opening Credits
- Who Killed Roger Ackroyd Cut to black. A blank page. A hand inscribes a first chapter heading. 1 - Scene of the Crime
- Maxime Jakubowski Interview
- A Village Somewhere in the South of England
- 3 – Dissociative Amnesia
- Harrogate Town Councillor, Elizabeth Donovan Interview
- Actor and Director, Stephen Fry Interview
- Professor of Literature, Pierre Bayard ( Paris VIII) Interview
- Pierre Bayard Interview (contd.)
Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? A literary enquiry 
A documentary by Jean-Christophe Klotz Contents page Synopsis p. 3 Introduction p. 4 Script p. 5 Director’s Notes p. 33 Director’s CV p. 38 Les Films du Poisson Catalogue p. 39 Synopsis “Who killed Roger Ackroyd” is a deconstruction of one of the most famous Agatha Christie’s novel as well as an original portrait of a cult writer, whose life still retains a part of mystery today. Inspired by Pierre Bayard’s essay, this film is an investigation over an investigation : has Hercule Poirot committed a mistrial by pointing Dr Sheppard as the murderer ? Would have the Crime Queen been mistaken ? Would have she done it on purpose ? In what aim ? Introduction The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is one Agatha Christie's most famous novels. Its fame rests on a narrative device, profoundly original in its day (1926): murderer and narrator are one and the same. The author was thoroughly pilloried by critics at the time for this. They considered her invention an unfair trick on readers, that broke the rules of detective fiction. Eighty years later, Pierre Bayard, a professor of literature and psychoanalyst, offers a fascinating deconstruction of the novel. Quite apart from the technical aspects of his analysis, Bayard reaches an absolutely convincing, yet astounding conclusion: Agatha Christie is guilty of a miscarriage of justice. The murderer cannot be Dr Sheppard, as Hercule Poirot so blithely asserts. So who is the murderer? And how can Agatha Christie have got things so utterly wrong? Or was the mistake deliberate? And if so, why? Taken together, the answers to these questions offer an unexpectedness likeness of the author, a highly unusual woman, whose life, still today, contains many dark and unexplained corners. This film, then, is an enquiry into an enquiry, designed around a recurring pattern of plots within plots, mirror images of mirror images, labyrinths within labyrinths that offer dizzy-making perspectives. At its heart, lies an age-old confrontation between truth… and lies. Script O – Opening Credits Chalks dots on the ground, as in a crime reconstruction… Various men and women, in silhouette, backstage… Fleeting views of props arranged by a Property Master… A general sense of enigma, underlined by a musical theme that speaks of puckish mystery.
A character on all fours. This is the Narrator. Finishing marking the ground in chalk. A move back locates him on a sparsely decorated stage. Various other characters take up their positions around him, spreading between different areas marked out in dotted chalk lines and labelled "Study", "Hall", "Drawing-Room", "Stairs"… The scene is partially shot from above, making the markings easier to read – as well as evoking the board game, Cluedo. Narrator and acolytes continue with their preparations. They are wearing street clothes, but are given a just a few, very explicit accessories: an old-fashioned moustache for one, a hat and veil for another, a butler's waistcoat to a third. Over these images, the Narrator speaks. Narrator OS A murder has just been committed. Perhaps the second in less than twenty-four hours, though the first may have been suicide. Though at this stage nothing is less certain. The year is 1927. We are in the little village of King's Abbott, in the south of England. Do not seek King's Abbott on a map. Like most of the characters you will meet, the village of King's Abbott is a figment of the imagination of Agatha Christie. Sixty-six novels, crimes and murders of every kind, many of them solved by her best-known character, I mean the celebrated Hercule Poirot. (Hercule Poirot nods slightly) As it happens, there is only one real character on this stage. Me. The director. About to stage one of the Queen of Crime's most famous novels, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". The rehearsal continues. From time to time, the Narrator picks up the book, searches out a passage or perhaps examines a few photographs of Agatha Christie as he pursues his soliloquy. Narrator OS (over images) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd occupies a distinctive place in the history of mystery writing. There is a before and after. By breaking the conventions of the genre with this book, Agatha Christie established mystery writing as literature… Roger Ackroyd is a take on a mystery novel, which, if studied closely, has many unexpected twists to offer, raising many important questions about literature and art in general, about truth, lies and even psychoanalysis… By analysing this story, we intend to throw a light on the strange character of the author herself. For behind the façade of a delightful, old-fashioned Englishwoman lies a particularly… perverse soul. But let us begin at the beginning. Now the camera singles out various characters present at this rehearsal. Narrator OS Here we are in the victim, Roger Ackroyd's, study. He has been killed in the night by a knife-blow to the back of the neck. (silhouette of very large man lying on ground). The main suspect is on the run. His name is Ralph Patton. Engaged to be married to the delightful Flora Ackroyd, the victim's daughter. Dr Sheppard, the family doctor, has found the body this morning, together with Parker, the butler. Dr Sheppard is the narrator of Agatha Christie's novel. It is he who tells us the story. Soon, he will find himself working with a celebrated detective, Hercule Poirot. Who will lead the enquiry. Naturally, Hercule Poirot will have no trouble unravelling this business. He will study the scene of the crime, question the characters and bring things to a close in no time. A characteristically brilliant stroke of deduction will unmask the perpetrator. None other than the Narrator, our good Dr Sheppard. A blank sheet of paper. A new chapter heading.
The Narrator sits alone at a work-table in an empty studio. Various manuscripts, photographs and other documents lie scattered about, including contemporary press-cuttings and a copy of a 1920s literary magazine called American Magazine.
So the murderer turns out to be our unreliable narrator. A brilliant idea and one that earned Agatha Christie a storm of criticism at the time. She was charged with disobeying the fundamental rules of detective writing, with manipulating her readers, in a word, of cheating, by concealing her assassin behind the narrator's mask. (Various CUs: hostile cuttings, critical of Christie) But did she cheat? Or didn't she? I can hardly want to stage this tale without assessing the evidence. Maxime Jakubowski Interview A study filled to the brim with books… portraits of writers hang on the walls… Courteously, a man invites the Narrator to take a seat. His name is Maxime Jakubowski, literary critic and bookseller, specializing in detective writing. The conversation turns on Agatha Christie's supposed "cheating". Jakubowski describes certain contemporary critics' reaction as too narrow-minded to appreciate the ingenuity with which the novelist plotted her story. In particular, he explains, that rules of detective writing had been established in 1928 in an article in American Magazine by S.S. Van Dine, a pen-name for Willard. H. Wright. There are 20 Van Dine rules. Jakubowski produces a copy of the magazine containing the rule. He suggests that the Narrator carefully read rule 15, saying it is the most important of all. Narrator (reading) The truth of the problem must at all times be apparent — provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it. By this I mean that if the reader, after learning the explanation for the crime, rereads the book, he must be able to see that the solution had, in a sense, been staring him in the face all along…" Jakubowski and the Narrator establish that this rule is absolutely respected in Agatha Christie's novel. What is at stake is the principle outlined in Edgar Allen Poe's The Purloined Letter, one of the fundamental principles both of mystery-writing and of psychoanalysis. In the Poe story, a man steals a letter and must hide it. He decides to place it in full view, with the result that no one notices it. Jakubowski now suggests they examine Van Dine rule n°2. Narrator No wilful tricks or deceptions may be placed on the reader other than those played legitimately by the criminal on the detective himself. According to Jakubowski's logic, the Narrator is compelled to admit that the novel contravenes this specific rule. -Sound Archive (Images showing Agatha Christie and contemporary journalists, as well as cuttings) Note: Not much moving picture archive survives that shows Agatha Christie. However, the BBC possesses several hours of sound interview during, which she answers her detractors. Faced with the accusation that she has cheated, she has this sober response: there is no cheating of any sort… and then she adds, enigmatically, Reread the novel. The Narrator is again at his work-table, studying the book. Narrator (OS) Rereading detective novels is not customary. Detective fiction is not meant to be reread. Once the murderer has been found, the story becomes pointless. But The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is different. When challenged, Mrs Christie tells us to Reread the novel. And indeed, rereading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a fascinating experience, a journey along the dividing-line between reality and imagination… A third way that lies, neither in the realm of truth; nor through the valley of deceit, but along a middle path, where, if you will, we must now tread… The camera approaches the written page, coming closer and closer until we feel as if we are entering into the very text itself. Dissolve to: A Village Somewhere in the South of England Castle Combe, Wiltshire. Unlike King's Abbott, Castle Combe is a real place. A place where time seems frozen. A place thought to have served as the inspiration for Agatha Christie's King's Abbott. The Narrator strolls through uneventful streets, that feel stuck in the 1920s. In the land of Agatha Christie. Again a blank page, across which a hand inscribes the following chapter heading: 3 – Dissociative Amnesia The Narrator is following in Agatha Christie's footsteps. Narrator (OS) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is Agatha Christie's second detective novel. When it was published in 1926, the author was thirty-six years of age and experiencing one of the most unsettled periods of her existence. She had just lost her mother, with whom she had a particularly close relationship. Her husband, the dashing former RAF pilot, Archibald Christie, was in the process of leaving her. (The Narrator examines a handful of photographs of Agatha Christie's family: her mother, her husband Archibald… He finds society press cuttings describing the couple's separation and also publication of Agatha Christie's second novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd".) The book is an enormous success. Suddenly, Agatha Christie is a celebrity and this puts an even greater burden of stress upon her, which she finds increasingly difficult to handle. On December 3rd, 1926, her car is found crashed near Silent Pool pond in Surrey, a place popularly regarded as haunted… The press has a field-day. All sorts of hypotheses are bandied about, including suicide, a murder contract placed by her husband, a publicity stunt for her book launch… Traces of blood are found in the car and scraps of clothing… Over the next few days, some fifteen thousand people search neighbouring woods… in vain. Agatha Christie has vanished. The Narrator pursues his journey… various landscapes fly by a train window… until the spa town of Harrogate is reached. At the reception desk of the Swan Hydropathic Hotel (now The Old Swan Hotel)… (images cut together with photographs and archive footage from the case of the missing novelist in December 1926). Harrogate Town Councillor, Elizabeth Donovan Interview Elizabeth Donovan, is a spinster of a certain age. In classic British style, she explains how Agatha Christie was discovered some twelve days after her disappearance in a hotel in the spa town of Harrogate, registered as Miss Theresa Neele, strangely enough her husband, Archibald's mistress' name. Even odder, when her husband comes to fetch her, Mrs Christie claims not to recognize him and not to remember anything. Now the Narrator slips backstage in another theatre… An actor can be heard on stage performing in English. The audience laughs. Applause. The curtain falls. The actor joins our Narrator backstage. His name is Stephen Fry, actor, comic and theatre director. They exchange greetings. s Narrator (OS) That night, I had arranged to meet a friend, the British actor and comedian, Stephen Fry, a connoisseur of Agatha Christie's work. The conversation turns to Agatha Christie's amnesia. Actor and Director, Stephen Fry Interview Stephen gives us his version of the affair. He provides a survey of different theories, the weirdest of which involves a man claiming to be able to prove that Agatha Christie was kidnapped by extra-terrestrials. More seriously, he confides that he himself experienced something similar when under great stress. He disappeared for several days and had no knowledge of what happened, a few years ago, after a show. He was found a few days later, some three hundred miles from home, when recognized by a fan. He was sent to hospital, where doctors diagnosed something called "dissociative amnesia", similar to the phenomenon that struck Agatha Christie… The interview ends with the notion that the novelist would never refer to this strange episode, which remains a mystery today. Dissolve to: …a passage from the The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, as if we were now quitting the real England described the above sequences. And once again, the Narrator is at his work-table, studying The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and various other documents connected with Agatha Christie's work. Narrator (OS) I must say that the more I read this novel, the more I admire the author's mastery of her craft. The plot devised by Agatha Christie is particularly ingenious. By making the murderer her narrator, she shows us the course of events through the murderer's eyes, without one being able to suspect that is what is happening and despite the fact that one is always at his side. The Narrator meets Pierre Bayard, Professor of Literature and Psychoanalyst. The conversation turns on Agatha Christie's stroke of genius in concealing the murderer behind the narrator of her tale. Professor of Literature, Pierre Bayard ( Paris VIII) Interview Bayard explains that in order to make her brilliant scheme work, Agatha Christie must apply different techniques of concealment that are combined in a masterly fashion throughout the novel. Her main means of disguising what is happening is ellipsis. This is the art of omission. It enables Agatha Christie to say nothing but the truth, yet… not the whole truth. In this way, one might say she never "lies" or if she does, only by omission. Scrutinizing the text carefully, Bayard insists, one sees just how far she takes her strategy of omission. The reader does not notice these omissions because he or she is too taken up with the story. Pierre Bayard and the Narrator then decide to choose a few concrete examples in order to deconstruct the story and show Mrs Christie's considerable skill. Upon a blank page, a hand inscribes: 4 – The Murder In a rehearsal studio, the players, the Narrator and beside him, Pierre Bayard. The Narrator directs the actor intended to play Roger Ackroyd's body, who lies down on the ground according to the markings. There is no other stage design than these minimalist chalk dots. In the background, the shadow of a mackintosh-wearing Policeman questions various characters as a Property-Master installs a glass-fronted case containing various objects, including an ancient dagger. Pierre Bayard directs the Narrator's attention to a specific passage in the novel. This is the moment before the murder itself. Dr Sheppard appears to pass the time by fidgeting with the cover of this bookcase, as though intrigued by the deadlock mechanism. As he fidgets, Dr Sheppard observes the knick-knacks in the glass-fronted case. He moves forwards, stares closely at the dagger… Hearing someone approach, Dr Sheppard glances out of frame. Flora Ackroyd, daughter of the future victim, appears on stage and chats amiably with Dr Sheppard. Under Pierre Bayard's direction, the Narrator reads out the relevant passage. On stage, actors perform the text as it is read. Narrator Then my eye was caught by what, I believe, is called a silver table, the lid of which lifts, and through the glass of which you can see the contents. I crossed over to it, studying the contents… Wanting to examine one of the jade figures more closely, I lifted the lid… I repeated the action once or twice for my own satisfaction. Then I lifted the lid to scrutinize the contents more closely. I was still bending over the open silver table when Flora Ackroyd came into the room. (This movement is shown a first time in a series of short, mid-shots from the stage, held close to the actors). The sequence is cut as follows:- Sheppard operates the lid, examines the objects. // We see what he is looking at: // an ancient dagger. // Hearing steps, he looks edge-of-frame. // Flora enters and joins him. // He greets her, all smiles. Pierre Bayard Interview (contd.) Bayard explains that in this instance, ellipsis occurs immediately before the last sentence, just after the full-stop that precedes it. In other words, Sheppard clearly says I was still bending over the open silver table when Flora Ackroyd came into the room… He does not say what he has done in between the moment when he was examining the objects and the moment when Flora has entered. Our Narrator then pursues Bayard's line of reasoning, as though putting it to a life-sized test with the help of his actors. He continues to speak as if directed by Bayard and wanting to solve the riddle of this scene. Narrator (to crew) So this time, we'll do the same thing again only showing the moment that Agatha Christie has omitted in her writing… In other words, the camera will not cut. We'll shoot the entire sequence as one shot, thus revealing what Mrs Christie (or Dr Sheppard, as the narrator) has tried to conceal. OK, Sheppard, lift the lid, look in the cabinet, the dagger… (does as told) You hear Flora's footsteps and now, what do you do? Dr Sheppard …? Narrator (suddenly understanding) You take the dagger, of course! (Bayard nods approval) …Quickly, lest she see you! Skilfully, Dr Sheppard grabs the dagger in the display-cabinet, hides it under his jacket and resumes his previous position, innocently examining the cabinet. He straightens and smiles as Flora appears. Narrator Now Flora appears. She has seen nothing. Nor has the reader of course, because Sheppard has not told him… But he must have got the dagger, because he is going to use it as a weapon. The whole business is about points of view. If the camera turns away from Sheppard to show Flora arriving, he can take the dagger without anyone noticing. But if the camera is on him, then we see all that he does. The narrator is back at his work-table. He skips fairly feverishly through the book, as though searching for clues. Narrator (OS) Thanks to Pierre Bayard, I found the most spectacular omission in the text just a little later on. It concerns the murder itself. A model of its kind. We approach the page and… dissolve to: On stage, everyone takes their place. The Property Manager sets two armchairs and a little table on stage. The Narrator gives a few directions. Narrator (OS) So we have, alone in the study, Roger Ackroyd, future victim, and Dr Sheppard, soon to be murderer. The time is twenty to nine pm. Roger Ackroyd has just received a letter giving him the name of the blackmailer responsible for his mistress' death. The blackmailer is Dr Sheppard. But we, the readers, do not know this for the time being. Ackroyd is about to read the letter, in Sheppard's presence. Sheppard thus waits fairly nervously for the moment when Ackroyd will realize that he is the blackmailer. Only… Ackroyd decides in the end that he will wait till he is alone before reading the letter. Sheppard insists he read it in his presence, but there is nothing to be done, Ackroyd is the stubborn sort. The Narrator faces the camera during this rehearsal. As he provides commentary on the scene, Sheppard and Ackroyd continue rehearsing in the background. Narrator We have now reached the moment when Sheppard expects Ackroyd to discover the name of the blackmailer contained in the letter. He is expecting to be denounced, in his own presence. Only Ackroyd does not read the letter… and Sheppard is at last going to act. That, of course, is something he is not going to tell us. Not as it happens anyway. Here is what it says in the novel (starts to read). He put the letter in the envelope and laid it on the table. The Narrator joins his actors, who start reading the scene, book in hand, including stage directions as is usual at this stage in the process. Roger Ackroyd Later, when I'm alone. Dr Sheppard No! I cried impulsively. Read it now! Ackroyd stared at me in some surprise. I beg your pardon, I said reddening. I do not mean read it out loud to me. But read it through whilst I am still here. Ackroyd shook his head. Roger Ackroyd No, I'd rather wait. Dr Sheppard But, for some reason obscure to myself, I continued to urge him. At least, read the name of the man. Now Ackroyd is essentially pig-headed. The more you urge him to do a thing, the more determined he is not to do it. All my arguments were in vain. (Change of angle. Now the camera is on Dr Sheppard alone, leaving Roger Ackroyd out of frame.) Dr Sheppard stands, takes his coat and prepares to leave the room. As he does so, he continues reading. Dr Sheppard The letter had been brought in at twenty minutes to nine. It was just on ten minutes to nine when I left him, the letter still unread. I hesitated with my hand on the door handle, looking back and wondering if there was anything I had left undone. I could think of nothing. With a shake of the head I passed out and closed the door behind me. Dr Sheppard exits. The narrator reappears, book in hard. He speaks to camera. In the background, Dr Sheppard and Roger Ackroyd resume their initial positions and carry on rehearsing the scene. Narrator There… The murder has been committed. But the reader has seen nothing. Of course not, this is only the beginning of the book and Mrs Christie maintains her suspense till the very end. She would indeed have been cheating if Sheppard, who is telling us this tale, were boldly lying. But by resorting to ellipsis or omission, he is able to tell us nothing but the truth… Though not all the truth. In the scene we have just witnessed, the murder takes place exactly between two sentences, with only a full-stop between them… (The Narrator pauses, giving Parker the butler time to deliver a letter on a tray in front of Dr Sheppard. Ackroyd starts to read… then thinks better of it, puts the letter back in the envelope and lays it on the table.) As this is happening, the Narrator pursues his explanation. Narrator (contd) First sentence : The letter had been brought in at twenty minutes to nine. And there, full-stop. Now watch what happens. Dr Sheppard (book in hand) At least, read the name of the man! (Ackroyd repeats his refusal with a shake of the head) Now Dr Sheppard stands, passes behind Ackroyd, removes the dagger from his jacket and mimes planting it in the man's neck. Ackroyd falls to the floor. Then we see Dr Sheppard at the threshold with his coat on. He turns back to observe the scene and exits. The Narrator continues. Narrator (contd) Second sentence. It was just on ten minutes to nine when I left him, the letter still unread. So it is during this ten-minute gap, between twenty to and ten to nine, which the novel does not cover, that the murder takes place. And I can prove it! The Narrator gives the camera a mischievous stare, creating suspense. Fade to black: A hand inscribes the next chapter heading and adds an ellipsis – three dots – to the letters. 5 – A Row of Stars Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 258.58 Kb. Share with your friends:
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