Poirot (TV Series)

Cards on the Table (2006)

David Suchet: Hercule Poirot

Photos 

Quotes 

• Hercule Poirot : The question is, can Hercule Poirot possibly by wrong?

  Mrs. Lorrimer : No one can always be right.

  Hercule Poirot : But I am! Always I am right. It is so invariable it startles me. And now it looks very much as though I may be wrong, and that upsets me. But I should not be upset, because I am right. I must be right because I am never wrong.

• Ariadne Oliver : [looking around the study; to Poirot]  Have you redecorated?

  Hercule Poirot : No... I moved.

  Ariadne Oliver : Hmph!

• Hercule Poirot : Do you think Shaitana played any card games?

  Major Despard : There is only one game that Shaitana played... a low-down game. We all make mistakes. Even you, I dare say, have a failure now and then.

  Hercule Poirot : Well, the last one was 28 years ago.

• [Hercule Poirot attends a party at Mr. Shaitana's home] 

  Mr. Shaitana : My dear Monsieur Poirot, come in, come in. How simply divine to see you.

  Hercule Poirot : Monsieur Shaitana.

  Mr. Shaitana : I don't know if you know the famous Mrs. Oliver.

  Hercule Poirot : Ah, yes, of course I do. Enchante, Madame.

  Ariadne Oliver : Hello, Poirot.

  Hercule Poirot : I did not realize you accepted this kind of invitation, Madame.

  Ariadne Oliver : Oh, well, Mr. Shaitana can be awfully persuasive.

  Mr. Shaitana : We met at a literary dinner. Mrs. Oliver was the guest of honor.

  Ariadne Oliver : Oh, yes, it was the Crime Writers Circle, wasn't it? Come to think of it, what were you doing there?

• Hercule Poirot : [referring to the gallery]  But I see that you yourself have lent a few pieces?

  Mr. Shaitana : Oh, one picks up trifles, here and there. I have a few interesting objects I could show you. I daresay I could even produce one or two things in your line, Poirot.

  Hercule Poirot : Ah, so you have then, your private 'black museum,' no?

  Mr. Shaitana : Oh, no, no, no. I don't collect the artifacts of crime: the murderer's hammer, the poisoner's cup. I collect only the finest objects of their kind.

  Hercule Poirot : And what do you consider to be the finest objects, artistically speaking, in crime?

  Mr. Shaitana : Why, the human beings who commit them, Monsieur.

• Hercule Poirot : Do you know anyone here, Madame?

  Ariadne Oliver : No, I don't know a soul, but I've made a few inquiries.

  Hercule Poirot : Oui?

  Ariadne Oliver : Yes. That little thing is Anne Meredith, a country mouse, up to town.

  [referring to Major Despard] 

  Ariadne Oliver : The dashing major can't keep his eyes off her. As a matter of fact, I've got his book on my shelf. Oh, what's it called? "Amazonian Idle?" I haven't read it yet, but I intend to, because I'm planning to send Sven up the jungle.

  Hercule Poirot : [puzzled]  Sven?

  Ariadne Oliver : Sven Hjerson? My DETECTIVE.

  Hercule Poirot : Ah.

  Ariadne Oliver : Fictional, of course.

• Ariadne Oliver : I've no idea who the older lady is, Mrs. Lorrimer, but she and the young one

  [referring to Anne Meredith] 

  Ariadne Oliver : have been throwing glances at each other in the most odd manner. Who's the policeman?

  Hercule Poirot : Superintendent Wheeler of Scotland Yard.

  Ariadne Oliver : [judging Wheeler's expression]  Bowel trouble, that would be my guess. And your friend, from the Foreign Office?

  Hercule Poirot : Oh, that is Colonel Hughes.

  Ariadne Oliver : Secret Service, is he?

  Hercule Poirot : [pointedly]  Jen sais pas.

• Ariadne Oliver : Hm, seems our Mr. Shaitana is a little bit... crime-minded, shall we say? He has the most curious taste. One never knows what he's going to find amusing. Might be something... cruel.

  Hercule Poirot : You mean, peut-être, like the foxhunting?

  Ariadne Oliver : No, I meant something more... Oriental.

• Hercule Poirot : There is a Madame Luxmore, n'est-ce pas?

  Major Despard : How did you find out?

  Hercule Poirot : My friend, Madame Oliver. She pointed out that your editor had made a tiny error. In Chapter Four, you wrote, "The Luxmores were researching tropical plants." Luxmores. Plural. Two of them. Then, later, there is only one. Did you shoot him?

  Major Despard : Yes.

• Ariadne Oliver : Oh, look, it's Mr. Shaitana. What is he? An Armenian? A Greek?

  Hercule Poirot : No one knows. All that is known is that he is one of the richest men in London.

  Ariadne Oliver : He gives me the jitters.

• Hercule Poirot : And what do you consider to be the finest objects, artistically speaking, in crime?

  Mr. Shaitana : Why, the human beings who commit them, monsieur.

• Ariadne Oliver : What if they're all leading you up the garden path?

  Hercule Poirot : No, it is not possible to take Hercule Poirot along the path. Whether they try to hinder me or to help me, they necessarily reveal their type of mind.

• [Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver are in a gallery when Poirot frowns at an abstract sculpture] 

  Ariadne Oliver : You really must try and broaden your horizons a little. Some of these pieces are terribly revealing. For instance, what do you make of that?

  Hercule Poirot : [sighs]  I - I do not know what to make of it, Madame Oliver.

  Ariadne Oliver : Not symmetrical enough for you?

• Hercule Poirot : I am here purely in my private capacity.

• Hercule Poirot : [to Mrs. Lorimer]  I imagine, Madame, that to you every incident is as clear as if it was yesterday, like a ghost that never goes away.

• [Last line. Poirot is looking at Shaitana's portrait] 

  Hercule Poirot : So, we have played, and Hercule Poirot, he has won.

• Ariadne Oliver : [at the gallery]  ... Some of these pieces are terribly revealing. For instance what do you make of that.

  [nodding at a sculpture] 

  Hercule Poirot : I do not know what to make of it Madame Oliver.

  Ariadne Oliver : Not symmetrical enough for you?

• [Poirot, Mrs. Oliver, Col. Hughes and Supt. Wheeler enter the room where Shaitana is sleeping in a chair, while the other guests are playing bridge] 

  Supt. Jim Wheeler : Mr. Shaitana? It's about time we'd be going. Mr. Shaitana?

  [pause; he looks at Mr. Shaitana's face] 

  Supt. Jim Wheeler : I'm damned if he has fallen asleep.

  [He notices a handle of a stiletto knife sticking out of Mr. Shaitana's vest. He gets up and looks at Poirot] 

  Supt. Jim Wheeler : [serious]  I say... Poirot?

  [Poirot looks up, comes over to Mr. Shaitana's chair and examines him while Wheeler removes the glass goblet from Mr. Shaitana's hand. After an intense moment, Poirot gets up and turns to Col. Hughes] 

  Hercule Poirot : Col. Hughes?

  Colonel Hughes : [Col. Hughes comes over and checks Mr. Shaitana's pulse; filled with shock]  My God...

  Supt. Jim Wheeler : [tot the guests]  Um... May I have your attention please? I regret to inform you that Mr Shaitana... is dead.

  Mrs. Lorrimer : [genuinely shocked]  Dead?

  Dr. Roberts : [getting up]  There must be some mistake... Let me look at him.

  Supt. Jim Wheeler : That won't be necessary, doctor. Stay where you are.

  Dr. Roberts : The fellow must have fainted.

  Supt. Jim Wheeler : He hasn't fainted... He's been murdered.

  Ariadne Oliver : Murdered?

  Supt. Jim Wheeler : Stabbed through the heart!

  [Mrs. Oliver's eyes widen in shock]