MovieChat Forums > Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Discussion > I'm sorry, he's not much of a detective ...

I'm sorry, he's not much of a detective - Poirot and nightmare


As soon as he shouted out about having a nightmare in French, I "knew" something was up. (Of course, I knew something would be up, because this is a classic mystery, but let's ignore that for now.) Poirot should have known this as well - not from McQueen's later statement that Ratchett didn't speak any languages, but from Ratchett's inability to pronounce Poirot correctly.

Anybody who's able to respond in a complete sentence in French using the word nightmare knows enough French to be able to pronounce Poirot. Puh-leez.




I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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Poirot should have known this as well - not from McQueen's later statement that Ratchett didn't speak any languages, but from Ratchett's inability to pronounce Poirot correctly.


Why would Poirot be suspicious that an American wouldn't know how to pronounce a French word correctly? Even back then, Americans viewed being expected to learn a language other than English as a mortal insult.

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No, that's not the point when he should have become suspicious. He should have become suspicious as soon as this American who can't even pronounce Poirot properly all of a sudden starts spouting off perfect French in the middle of the night, including the word for nightmare.




I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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But how do you know that he didn't? Just because Poirot doesn't directly state that Ratchett's "fluid French" seemed suspicious, doesn't mean that it didn't play a role in Poirot's early theory. Poirot does, in fact, interview McQueen first, so once McQueen confirms that Ratchett was monolingual, there is no need to further address the point.

Additionally, I just want to add that McQueen's pronunciation of "nightmare" in French doesn't really sound very fluid to me. It sounds like a native English speaker speaking a foreign language with a very noticeable American accent attached to it.


Screws fall out all of the time. The world's an imperfect place.

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Ah. Good point. I was thinking of the book, in which Ratchett doesn't butcher Poirot's name.

But MacQueen and his evidence are adapted badly in general. One of the things that makes Poirot certain that he's in on the murder is MacQueen's suggestion that the Daisy Armstrong note was burned, but the movie waters that down.

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I think people are forgetting that Poirot WAS expected to see through this.

MacQueen had said Ratchett didn't speak any foreign languages, but "Ratchett" answers Pierre's questions in perfect French. That was done so that -in case Poirot was awake and overheard, he'd deduce that it wasn't Ratchett but the killer who was in the compartment at that time.

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I think people are forgetting that Poirot WAS expected to see through this.
Yes but Poirot was not supposed to become suspicious until McQueen told him that Ratchett didn't speak any foreign languages - after Ratchett had already been found dead.

The OP actually does raise an interesting point. None of the conspirators knew that Ratchett had spoken to Poirot in the dining car, and that their conversation might have clued Poirot in prematurely to the fact of Ratchett not being a French speaker. So they actually took quite a big risk by having McQueen yell out in French in Ratchett's compartment. Poirot could have realized right away that the voice he heard likely did not belong to Ratchett, and since he also knew Ratchett had received death threats he might have gotten up to investigate right then and there. Which would have been awkward, to say the least.

However I don't think Ratchett's mispronunciation of Poirot's name by itself would necessarily indicate to Poirot that Ratchett didn't know any French - it would more likely just suggest that he was bad at French pronunciation. And since McQueen's French pronunciation isn't very good when he yells out about the nightmare, Poirot probably doesn't give it a second thought when he hears it, which enables the murder to proceed as planned.

ETA: Interestingly I just realized that a clever clue about this is planted earlier on in the film, when McQueen is told by Pierre that he will have to share his room with Poirot, and he complains "Vous avez faites un erreur", showing us before the murder occurs that he does speak French.

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Americans do not regard learning a language other than English a mortal insult. Millions of Americans attend foreign language classes and purchase language instruction recordings every day. It is immigrants to the United States, primarily from Mexico, who regard learning English to be an imposition and insult they refuse to participate in.

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I speak English but will mispronounce names or certain Anglo/English words unless corrected or learn otherwise.

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