"Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures" from 2004 is an attempt, as in the 1979 film Agatha, to examine Christie's mysterious disappearance for 11 days. The theory presented in Agatha was that she was planning to commit suicide in such a way as to frame her husband for murder but is stopped by the Dustin Hoffman character, an American reporter.
A book that examined the disappearance stated that she did it to embarrass her husband and didn't realize the enormity of the drama it would cause.
In this TV movie, she is thought to have been suffering from amnesia, devastated by her husband leaving her, her mother's death, and the pressures of her work.
My own opinion is that she wanted to get away from it all, and due to the fact that she had such a wild imagination, called herself by the last name of her husband's mistress, went to a spa, and lived a fantasy imaginary life for a while. I think her unhappiness drove her to it. I'm not sure I believe she had amnesia - she may have said she did. I think it was a necessary respite.
The title Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures is not really accurate as the movie really only concentrates on her meeting Archie, getting married, and disappearing. Her subsequent marriage is rushed through, and we learn nothing of her interest in spiritualism, something she shared with Conan Doyle. We also don't learn how sick she became of Poirot, calling him at one point "an egocentric creep."
Anna Massey plays the older Christie, and Olivia Williams the younger. I thought Olivia Williams did a good job. Great production values, too.
Agatha Christie was a fascinating and complicated woman. This movie doesn't tell her story, but rather speculates about a mysterious time in her life, a time when I think she acted out a fantasy rather than having a character do it.
