The Polish government appears to have weighed in on a developing row surrounding the plot of a movie adaptation of Richard Osman‘s best-selling novel The Thursday Murder Club.
A plot twist towards the ending of the film has enraged fans and been described as ‘deeply unfortunate’ by an institute run by Poland‘s ministry of foreign affairs.
The novel, which has sold some 10 million copies since its release in 2020, follows four senior sleuths Elizabeth (Dame Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), Joyce (Celia Imrie), and Ibrahim (Sir Ben Kingsley) who band together to try and solve cold murder cases while spending their days at a charming retirement community.
But when the body of Tony Curran (played by Geoff Bell)- co-owner of the retirement home Coopers Chase – is discovered, the pensioners find themselves hot on the trail of a murderer much closer to home.
Like in Richard’s bestselling novel, the killer is eventually revealed as his Polish employee Bogdan, but everything that follows after this in the movie is a drastic departure from the book.
Now the Polish Cultural Institute, which is backed by the Polish Foreign Ministry, has accused Netflix bosses of falling back on a negative stereotype of Polish people.
According to the author’s version, Bogdan’s motive for killing his land developer boss is to avenge the death of his friend Kaz many years prior to the events unfolding at Coopers Chase in present day.
It is revealed to readers that Tony hired a hitman, Turkish Johnny/Gianni, to murder taxi driver Kaz because he had seen the builder shoot someone at a pub during a botched drug deal.
A plot twist towards the ending of the film regarding character Bogdan (right) has enraged fans and been described as ‘deeply unfortunate’ by an institute run by Poland’s ministry of foreign affairs
The novel, which has sold some 10 million copies since its release in 2020, follows four senior sleuths Elizabeth (Dame Helen Mirren ), Ron ( Pierce Brosnan ), Joyce (Celia Imrie), and Ibrahim (Sir Ben Kingsley)
In his latest writing newsletter, he seemed less than impressed at the cinematic arc for the Polish handyman in the amateur sleuth flick, who despite being revealed as the killer in both versions has very different motives
Enraged by Kaz’s death, Bogdan killed Tony’s associate straightaway and covered it up.
Years later, Bogdan also took Tony out by tampering with the security system at his residence before sneaking in and then bludgeoning him to death.
But Bogdan’s reason for killing Tony is entirely different in the movie, in which the stoic handyman takes Tony’s life in an act of self-defence.
It is revealed to viewers that Tony and one of his friends, Bobby Tanner (Richard E Grant), were smuggling immigrants into the UK by luring them with better prospects then withholding their passports and essentially enslaving them.
Bodgan is one of Tony’s smuggled workers who ends up killing him after the Coopers Chase co-owner refused to return his passport so he could visit his mother back home in Kraków, Poland.
Like the book, it’s retired spy Elizabeth’s husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce) who figures out the identity of Tony’s killer, but the movie adds the additional detail of Elizabeth becoming fearful that Bogdan will poison her husband.
The movie also strays from its source material when Bogdan confesses his crime to the pensioner even though Stephen has no solid evidence against him.
He is arrested after Stephen surreptitiously records his confession and hands it over to the investigating police officers as it appeared the makers effectively closed the door on his return to the film franchise.
Like in Richard’s bestselling novel, the killer is eventually revealed as his Polish employee Bogdan by the sleuths, who live in an assisted living community
Thursday Murder Club viewers are fuming after the new Netflix adaptation made an ‘unforgivable’ change to Richard Osman ‘s beloved book series
Even Richard Osman wrote a blog post calling for ‘justice for Bogdan’ – the Polish handyman brought to life on-screen by actor Henry Lloyd-Hughes – after his storyline was ‘bizarrely’ changed
This deviation left Netflix viewers with a ‘sour taste’ because Bogdan has a very different arc in Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books.
Many felt that the decision to stray so far from the book’s handling of Bogdan’s character would mean it’s impossible to carry out other storylines such as his romance with fellow character Donna.
Anna Tryc-Bromley, director of the Polish Cultural Institute, which is run by Poland’s ministry of foreign affairs to promote the nation’s culture, said the ending of the film was ‘deeply unfortunate’.
She accused producers of opting for a Polish stereotype, rather than honour the more complex character arc written by Osman.
‘It is high time to move away from presenting Poles in such a one-dimensional way, especially when the original fictional character was far more complex,’ she told the Times.
Ms Tryc-Bromley also criticised the movie for not employing a Polish actor in Bogdan’s role.
She continued: ‘To make matters worse, when Helen Mirren is chatting with Bogdan about Polish cuisine, she speaks better Polish than him. For unknown reasons they didn’t even cast a Pole for the role. What a comedy of errors.’
Even author Osman appeared to case some shade at the way the ending unfolded, sending out a blog post to fans titled ‘#justiceforbogdan.
Henry Lloyd-Hughes, who plays Bogdan, responded to criticism when the film was released.
‘Richard Osman is so clever at presenting a world which we easily recognise on the surface and yet, underneath it are more intriguing elements,’ he said.
‘Bogdan is a complicated character, but I feel he comes from a good place and that enables you to root for him.’
The film has already jumped to the top of Netflix’s most-watched film list with 25 million views.
