| “ | How I wish I could do that, just lie in the sun. | „ |
| ~ Christine Redfern |
Christine Redfern is the secondary antagonist of Agatha Christie's 1941 Hercule Poirot novel Evil Under the Sun. She is an accomplice to her murderous husband, Patrick Redfern, into luring rich and beautiful women into false marriage before killing them to gain their wealth.
She was portrayed by the late Jane Birkin in the 1982 film adaptation of the story and by Tamzin Malleson in the 2001 adaptation within Agatha Christie's Poirot. The former also previously portrayed Louise Bourget in 1978 film adaptation of Death on the Nile, which also starred the late Sir Peter Ustinov as Poirot.
Biography[]
Christine Redfern is the wife of Patrick Redfern, who played the role of a witness during a death of young woman, Alice Corrigan, whom her husband falsely "married" and later killed.
Turned out, Patrick (under the alias of Edward Corrigan) had plotted the ruse and murdered his first victim with the assistance of his wife, with Alice faking death at first to play a trick before Patrick murdered Alice for real, just in time when Christine, disguised as a school teacher, saw the "murder" and ran for the police. When the police arrived, Alice was found strangled, and Patrick earned her fortune due to their marriage.
In their ruse to gain Arlena Marshall's wealth, Christine allowed her husband to have a love affair with Arlena, who was already infamous for being flirtarous. She at first lied about her fear of heights before she went out and stayed with Linda at the beach. While Linda went swimming, Christine secretly set Linda's watch twenty minutes forward, asked the time to set her alibi, before returning the watch to the correct time.
Arriving back to her room in the hotel, Christine wore the same style of swimsuit as Arlene's and used fake suntan makeup to cover her skin, making it deeper and more like being tanned by the sun. She then threw away the bottle, which (unbeknowest to her) narrowly missed Emily Brewster who walked passed by.
Sneaking out to Pixy Cove, Christine intentionally allowed herself to be seen by Arlena, who went hiding into a cave under Patrick's instruction in case Arlena saw Christine near her when she (Arlene) was about to date him. When Arlena went on hiding, Christine posed herself on the beach and pretended to be Arlena, covering her face with a hat to be seen by Emily and Patrick.
After Emily left for help under Patrick's instruction, Christine scrambled back to the hotel to wash down her fake tan, something that concerned the hotel staff on who would take a shower at noon. At 12 p.m., Christine met Poirot and others near tennis field, while the real Arlene was already strangled to death. Much later, Christine discovered Linda's guilt over her stepmother's death, since Linda often cursed Arlene with a voodoo doll. Christine manipulated Linda's guilt and goaded her into an attempted suicide, but was saved by Poirot.
During his denouement, Poirot exposed that Christie's fear of heights was fake, as well as her involvement in Alice's death as well as Patrick's ruse. When Patrick attacked Poirot, Christine asked him to stop. She was arrested along with her husband.
Trivia[]
- Jane Birkin, who portrayed Christine Redfern in the 1982 film adaptation, previously portrayed Louise Bourget in 1978 film adaptation of Death on the Nile, which also starred the late Sir Peter Ustinov as Poirot.
- Although Louise fell into the unambiguously unscrupulous role when she lied to Poirot and blackmailed the culprit for her own gain, she never really killed anyone, whilst Christine was involved in the murder. As such, this is the first time Jane Birkin had portrayed a genuine culprit of a murder case.
- In neither of the current film adaptations did Christine attempt to brainwash Linda into suicidal attempts (though in 2001, Linda was replaced by a male counterpart named Lionel).
- Christine's act and method in assisting her husband's murder was a reminiscent of Jacqueline de Bellefort to Simon Doyle. Unlike Christine, however, Jacqueline was not a con artist.
