Fresh and Exciting

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

An Exercise In Nonsense

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

When the first episode came out I was wondering and with me many others if the appearance of Rowan Atkinson as inspector Maigrait had a hilarious (or ridicule) effect. When I saw it effectively, on the contrary : he is the SHINING STAR of this production. Those who like real crime stories and those who like characters rather than superficial faces and also those who like atmosphere and old time settings and costumes, well this serie is made for them. For Simenon is known that he has a passion for psychological background of his personages, there is an echo of this in the film's (brief) conversations and scenes. I understand that some vieuwers, more experienced, are dissapointed with the story as I am also a little dissapointed with this . I know the serie with Cremer as Maigret. That serie is more a Maigret serie, a "serie". The Atkinson adaption is more like a film, longer and more expensive what makes it a superb time spent to watch it. The episodes are sparsely made (til now 4 episodes) which i think is inevitable but I hope there are more in the pipeline.

We have high expectations for British crime films. This one in my opinion lacks an investigation. Here's murder, and we expect a certain amount of investigation as the story is told. But it does not happen. No plot, or suspense. This causes the excitement to fail. Instead, we are witnessing a stylish film, performed in Paris's era. It's nicely filmed that way, but lacks any nerve we want to have when we watch great British crime on television.Rowan Atkinson shows that he can handle serious roles as well. Nothing to say about his efforts. Let's hope he gets something more to go after in the next episode, and with a plot that keep us on suspense.

Maigret detective stories comprise just a small part of the immensely prolific Simenon's oeuvre. However, Georges Simenon is best known exactly because of the Maigret character. I've read Maigret stories since childhood, and early on I was fascinated not so much with the "clever" story lines and plots, but because of somewhat lazy and disorganized ways in which eponymous detective and his associates in general operate. This adaptation catches very good all the important traits of a Maigret novel. Dangerous and focused killer of women is on the loose in the Montmartre quartier, Paris is on the brink because nobody sleeps peacefully until he is captured, Maigret works hard but cannot find a breakthrough. His men know that nobody but him will find a murderer, but higher officials are asking for closure. So Maigret will have to embark on a dangerous cat and mouse game with the killer, in which other innocent lives will be put in danger. So far, for those not familiar with cool detective, nothing exceptional. But, everything is so Simenon, and so Maigret, that you enjoy the slow flow and unraveling of the many seemingly unimportant scenes and subplots in this very well crafted movie. There are poor and struggling families with small children that will loose their mother; there are inner courtyards where housekeepers lurk behind their curtains and labourers drag their tired feet. There are lots of basement wine bars with barrels and men nurturing their glass of wine, beer or cognac. There are lots of young hardworking women, all of them attractive in their cheap after war dresses and blouses. Some of them are telephone operators, some of them strippers and dancers, and there is entire police squad of brave young women ready to risk their lives on the dangerous streets of Paris, no questions asked. And of course, there are suspects, quirky aspiring upper middle class characters in their slick apartments, struggling to appear respectable but hiding terrible secrets. More hardboiled police officers, dungeons of Quay d'Orfevre full of shady alkoholics, drug users and other sinners. Journalists, thirsty of any information but some of them familiar of Maigret's way of operating. And, yes, in the middle is Maigret, the detective with his pipe who is never in hurry. Rowan Atkinson was somewhat surprising choice, but he did excellent work impersonating french detective. Recommendable!

Well, I have seen the film. And I liked it. It's not a masterpiece and certainly not the best adaptation of Simenon I've seen, but it's good enough to entertain and satisfy those who missed watching Maigret. It succeeds in recreating the claustrophobic atmosphere of Simenon's novels, and even if the screenplay is a bit uneven at times, the overall result is very good. The production design is great, and Budapest looks perfect as Paris. The performances by the cast are all above average, but it's Rowan Atkinson who steals the screen every time he's on it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: his casting came as an absolute surprise to me, as I would never have thought of him as a possible Maigret. But the truth is he made the part his own. So much so that at a certain point I forgot the actor and saw only the character. Very, very good performance by Atkinson, proving he's much more than just a great comedian, he's a great actor. If you are looking for the best adaptation of this story, I suggest you get your hands on a copy of the 1958 french version "Maigret tend un piège", directed by Jean Delannoy and with the great Jean Gabin as Maigret (to me the best of them all, but that's me). But if all you want is to spend 90 minutes with Maigret and watch a well told and even better played story, then you could do worse than watch this one. I will certainly be looking forward for the next film in the series, "Maigret's Dead Man". Welcome back, M. Maigret!