Egypt: in the footsteps of Agatha Christie, between reality and fiction
Audio 02:11
Image taken from the film “Death on the Nile”, by Kenneth Branagh, which will be released in cinemas on February 9, 2022. © Walt Disney Germany
By: Edouard Dropsy
2 mins
The film
Death on the Nile
is released this Wednesday, February 9 at the cinema.
Director Kenneth Branagh signs a second part of the adventures of Hercule Poirot, this time in Upper Egypt, between Luxor and Aswan.
Report in the footsteps of Agatha Christie, author of the original work.
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From our special correspondent in Aswan,
Andalusian arcades, a terrace overlooking the Nile, an air of Belle Époque floats in the air.
We are at the Old Cataract, an architectural gem from the end of the 19th century.
Tsar Nicolas II, Winston Churchill, François Mitterrand… For more than a century, the greats of this world have loved to bask in this mythical hotel in Aswan, not far from the Sudanese border.
This is where the beginning of
Death on the Nile
, the famous novel by Agatha Christie, takes place.
The British novelist stayed there in 1934. Mahmoud Sathi, the butler, says: "
Hercule Poirot meets his clients and his friends here on this terrace because afterwards they are going to leave to see the boat Karnak, which is now called Sudan from here.
So we see the port that belongs to the hotel
.
»
Because it is of course the
Karnak
that the main plot unfolds, a fictionalized creation of
Sudan
.
A luxury steamer, owned by King Farouk, from which Agatha Christie drew the setting for her novel.
Hercule Poirot and the reader will discover the lifeless body of the wealthy Linnet Ridgeway.
Eternal Egypt
But Amir Attia, the owner of the boat, reassures us: “
Haha, never died on the
Sudan
.
The only death was in Agatha Christie's book.
There is always happiness in
Sudan
, always joy.
Never dead!
»
Completely refurbished, the
Sudan
is still running on steam.
Everything here is black woodwork, brass and subdued lighting.
An exceptional invitation to travel for Linda, an American on vacation who occupies the aptly named “
Agatha Christie cabin
”.
“
It's like living in the past.
It's amazing to be so relaxed and enjoying so much.
The service, the waiters, their period uniforms… It's like being in the movie
Death on the Nile,” marvels the tourist.
On the border between reality and fiction,
Death on the Nile
recounts this eternal Egypt on screens from February 9.
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