HALLIE EPHRON: Reason to celebrate: one of my all-time favorite mystery novels, Leonie Swann's THREE BAGS FULL: A SHEEP DETECTIVE STORY, has been made into a movie!! In this super clever and engaging Agatha Christie-esque mystery, the detectives are sheep.
In the novel, the sheep are, of course, the quintessential unreliable narrators. Their muddled notion of justice derives from a mystery novel their shepherd George read to them but hasn’t finished.
Their understanding of. relationships between men and women is based on what they call the “Pamela stories”—romance novels that George read to them.
When a priest says “The Lord is my shepherd,” they become convinced that the “Lord” is the butcher, the last person on earth that they’d want for their shepherd, smelling as he does of death.
The combination of sly humor and naiveté made this novel a surprising and delightful read and a huge international bestseller. The herd is filled with characters laid out in loving detail. And there’s such a vivid sense of place: “The sea looked as if it had been licked clean, blue and clear and smooth, and there were a few woolly little clouds in the sky.”
Often funny, silly, and profound, this novel invited us to “imagine you’re living in a flock, and one day you find out the others aren’t sheep at all—they’re wolves.”
I reviewed the book for the BOSTON GLOBE in 2007, concluding with: "For readers who love a good mystery and have even the slightest taste for 'Charlotte’s Web' or 'Babe,' trust me, you’ll be enchanted.
Much as I loved the book, I'd have said it was the least likely of my favorite reads to get adapted for film. The humor is sly and the affect subtle. It doesn't read like stuffed animals talking, so a film that felt like that would be a big miss.
And yet, here it is in a theatre near me and garnering rave reviews.
Technology, I'm sure, is what's made it possible.
Sadly I haven't yet gotten to the movie theatre to see it, but boy oh boy am I looking forward to it.
Anyone seen it yet? (The cast includes Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and Patrick Stewart!)
And now that we know animals can narrate a movie mystery, what other animal detective would you like to see brought to the silver screen? I nominate CHET THE DOG. Anyone else?
I hope the movie is as enchanting as the sheep detectives book!
ReplyDeleteDiesel the Cat would be great in an animal detective movie . . . .
Great choice
DeleteBeing up at the crack of dawn to take my husband to the airport gives me the honor of being second only to Joan in commenting this morning!
ReplyDeleteHallie, this is the oddest thing: I stumbled upon THREE BAGS FULL for the first time just about a month ago. I read it and felt just as you did -- it was an oddly enjoyable novel not quite like anything else I had ever read. But then I was so surprised to see that it has been released as a major movie, and that it is getting great reviews. I haven't made it to the cinema yet to see it, either, but I plan to. In fact, I'm planning to take my sister to it. She is a lifelong animal lover and I feel like the story will be exactly to her liking. Fingers crossed that a trip to the cinema is still manageable for her.
Good moorning SUSAN!!! Isn't it fantastic when a book unexpectedly "ticks all the boxes"! I hope you and your sister get to the movie theater and enjoy it.
DeleteWe saw the movie Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it although there were mostly kids in the audience. I'd love a movie with Chet the Dog, but also Mrs. Murphy the cat (Rita Mae Brown).
ReplyDeleteLuck you, Marianne! The book is most definitely not a kids' book...
DeleteThe movie is at our local screening room this week, but I am on the Cape, so I'll miss it. The premise did not lure me in (neither do animal detectives in books), but I'll take your recommendation for the book seriously.
ReplyDeleteAs I keep reminding myself, it's good to occasionally step outside one's comfort zone.
DeleteI remember you raving about this all those years ago Hallie! I love Hugh Jackman and the rest of the cast. John is intrigued too, as we saw a clip about how it was made. We'll try to see it! Another vote for Chet the Dog here too!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are such animal lovers, guessing this will be up your alley, too.
DeleteHallie, what a cast! I would see it just for that! I have not read the book, but on your recommendation, I probably will.
ReplyDeleteChet the Dog is a charmer!
I saw a trailer advertising the movie and it looks delightful! I had no idea it was based on a book. Now I will look for that as well as looking up to see if the film is playing here.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely Chet the Dog. No other is coming to mind this morning.
Many votes for CHET!
DeleteI had no idea about this (either the book or the movie) until yesterday when I watched a You Tube 'the making of' and I was hooked. I can't wait to see it. And I just requested the book from the library.
ReplyDeleteSince I am now read Cat On A Hot Tin Woof with Chet and Bernie, I agree that could be a good movie, one I'd definitely want to see.
We're going to see the film this afternoon! I haven't been to a movie theater since before Covid, so that's saying something!
ReplyDeleteFun, fun, fun!!
DeleteI also love episodes of the animated sheep (they don't talk but they make great sounds) in SHAUN THE SHEEP which I've streamed on Netflix and Amazon ... it's a cousin to Wallace and Grommit so you have to be a fan of silly, which I am.
ReplyDeleteHallie, the book was published that long ago? I did read it and remember it as amusing, I’d see the movie for the cast alone!
ReplyDeleteI only semi enjoyed the book, although I love everything sheep, but we both want to see the movie, and hope it is as good as Babe. It started in our local theatre on Friday, so I hope it will still be there next week. This weekend is our annual big do – read 42 people to feed all weekend. Hopefully with lobsters, though the boats have not gone out yet – worry of rough seas off shore. There will be a double planting of the two girls who died this year, so it is bringing everyone home. I dream of doing nothing on Tuesday and enjoying a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of movies and I doubt this one will turn up in US theatres, but Lighthouse in Little Lorraine is playing locally. It has been sold out for every show since it opened 3 weeks ago. It is a ‘mock’ story of a real event locally and was filmed in my home town – just in case you want to see it. So far, we have not made it there either…
Margo, does "double planting" refer to burials? Like, the ground is too frozen until now?
DeleteI did not realize your lobster feed had to do with that type of community activity. How fascinating. Good luck to your fishermen for fair seas and a good catch.
The first review I saw of the movie was very dismissive, maybe in the NYT? For that reason alone I hope it's a big success. And kudos to Hugh Jackman for playing a (dead) second fiddle to a herd of sheep.
ReplyDeleteFor another animal detective film--and this one could easily be serialized--I submit Lilian Jackson Braun's Koko and Yum Yum from her long-running Cat Who series. Koko was always the smartest being in every story, with Quill being second, largely because he was smart enough to pay attention to his Siamese cats. Quill needs to be played by an American version of Stephen Fry, too: an erudite bon vivant.
Karen, I thought of this series as well. One of my favorite series years ago.
DeleteFlora, when my youngest was in about 4th grade we started reading the series together. I would read one, then pass it on to her. She loved it, and it was our joint "thing". Plus, my oldest daughter and her husband have been going "up north" in Michigan their entire 30+ year relationship, and we used to join them sometimes, so it was kind of an in joke for our family.
DeleteThumbs up for the book and movie, Hallie! Sounds like my kind of movie--offbeat, humorous, great cast! I'll be ordering the book from my library.I'm thinking of Rita Mae Brown's Sister Jane series--all of the animals have quite a bit to comment on the action--but maybe a series instead of a movie.
ReplyDeleteFlora as Anon, above.
DeleteI’ve heard this is a worthwhile watch, but you’ve given me the final noodge to put it in my queue! Thank you for saying all the right things to tell me we love the same things in a movie.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun movie - I'll have to check to see if it is kid (grandkid) friendly.
ReplyDeleteI had not even heard of the book and now I am torn between reading the book real fast or seeing the movie “out of order” this week. I’d love to take my father to the cinema to see it so…….. and will absolutely still read the book. I just returned from Cornwall and naturally fell in love with all of the sheep vistas. I keep asking my husband if we now need some sheep in our yard? (He says no and my friend, a veterinarian, also says no-apparently they have a lot of health issues…). But I still love them (and the idea of being a sheep hearder-ess! Hallie, thank you for bringing these under-the radar books and uncommon stories. As much as I love the usual mysteries, I also love it when I am introduced so something novel (that is also good!)
ReplyDeleteoh, I remember loving this book too! So quirky and imaginative! Sort of Watership Down ish. I’d love to hear what you all think when you see it—it is it is, I agree, hard to imagine how it could be done without being too too ridiculous. I read somewhere that they made a new version of Animal Farm, too, to which, somehow, they gave a happy ending. Huh?
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