Maigret
dir. Patrice Leconte (2022)
A remarkably lifeless film. As per Simenon’s template, there is very little actual investigating, which leaves Gérard Depardieu to emote Maigret’s inner thoughts while tottering about like a top-heavy corpse in the making. Jade Labeste gives the only performance of any substance.
Le Charretier de la Providence
by Georges Simenon (1931)
trans. David Coward (as ‘The Carter of La Providence’)
audiobook read by Gareth Armstrong (Bolinda, 2015)
While Maigret’s second outing works as a period piece, affording a dismal though not unkind picture of those who navigated boats through the French canals and locks in the early 1930s, his brooding personality plays little role in shaping the (non-event) investigation.
Pietr the Latvian
by Georges Simenon (A. Fayard, 1931); audiobook read by Gareth Armstrong (Bolinda, 2015); trans. David Bellos.
Inspector Maigret makes his presence felt throughout this first novel, establishing the physically imposing, somewhat misanthropic character who would feature in seventy-five books. His investigation, however, rattles along like an out-of-control train, the reader trapped inside and kept largely in the dark.
Maigret, Series 2
by Stewart Harcourt (ITV, 2017)
Unfortunately, the two feature-length murder investigations of this series constitute the end of Rowan Atkinson’s run as French commissaire Jules Maigret. This is a shame, because the production values are high and Atkinson himself is excellent. Presumably TV audiences prefer rampant melodrama.