Maigret's Dead Man

The first entry in this new TV-film series that I watched, "Maigret Sets a Trap", had of course the advantageous / surprise element of seeing comedy actor Rowan Atkinson in one of his first and only dead-serious roles. That alone made the film worth watching, but on top of that it was also a tense and atmospheric adaptation of Georges Simenon's terrific novel centered on Chief-Inspector Jules Maigret. Atkinson already proved in the first film that he's perfectly suitable and capable of playing such a stoic and mature role and, judging by "Maigret's Dead Man", you'd almost consider him more of a veteran drama actor rather than a slapstick figure. The plot here is once again very engaging, the efforts that were taken to recreate Paris during the 1950s (by filming in Hungary) are very well-done and the moody atmosphere and dark themes compensate more than widely enough for the lack of actual action. In the Northwest of France, a few hours driving from Paris, entire families of farmers are brutally slaughtered and their houses robbed. Meanwhile, in Paris, Maigret is hooked on another mysterious case. A nervous man, clearly in some kind of lethal danger, attempted to get in contact with him, but vanished before Maigret could physically meet him. Later that night, the murdered and heavily mutilated body of this man gets dumped in the middle of a busy Parisian market square in true mafia style. Maigret is forbidden by his supervisors to further investigate the case, as he must assist his colleague in the farmhouse murders, but you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes (or even Jules Maigret) to figure out quickly that both cases are connected. "Maigret's Dead Man" assures good, solid made-for-television craftsmanship; nothing more but certainly nothing less.

I was pleasantly surprised! First of all, I had never heard of the film before, but knowing that Mr Atkinson plays the leading role, a role COMPLETELY distant from those he had played in the past, I was eager to watch it. Let me share with you my three basic impressions:

(a) I was fascinated by the settings, the clothing, the atmosphere, immediately from the very first scene; the one in the farm. Every setting was so carefully set and in so much detail, that I caught myself many times watching the background objects than the action itself.

(b) Direction is really very very good but I think Mr Atkinson is superb! You can "hear" him saying so many things just by watching his eyes. His eyes say everything in the movie! He is actually a genuine human Maigret; a thinker, not a talker.

(c) The plot is from Simenon's novel in late 40s. A classic crime/mystery story, mostly suited for mature audiences. Perhaps younger audiences may find the story somehow outdated.

If you like vintage-style detective/crime/mystery movies, I think that you are going to enjoy that. Mostly suited for summer/autumn nights with clear atmosphere, good company and good drinks!

I liked it so much because of the slow but tense rhythm of the history, the details of the characters, Atkinson being very accurate of the very heart of Maigret, but even more, giving power to the character. The secondaries and cast are very good too.

Only Poirot and a handful of TV mystery dramas can compare with this.

On the other side, the only thing I can say is that it looks like London, not like Paris, besides the effort they do to translate everything on the screen to french and use of the stone paved streets.

Congratulations to the team, the script and everyone else.

I hope the today's TV learned something.

Very good movie with awesome filming , acting and story. High recommended move to see in this genre.

Interesting set of reviews, I have just got round to watching this episode and loved it. Rowan Atkinson interpreted the detective as he wanted to, differently but without losing the essence of the character. i had read about the settings not being in Paris but that certainly wasn't a distraction. Like most Television shows, this latest version of the famed detective was and wont be favoured by everyone, that is the way of things. However I can't fault Rowan Atkinson's performance, he did it his way and that was just fine. Oh and Paul D. from Belgium, loved your last line. I agree, no one says Bob like Rowan :-)