Maigret's Dead Man

Who would have thought that Rowan Atkinson could play a role as difficult as "Maigret"? Not only is this on the other end of the spectrum, light-years away from "Johnny English" and "Mr. Bean", Commissaire Maigret (in this series ranked as "chief-inspector") was splendidly portrayed by the late Bruno Cremer in no less than 54 (!) episodes, which made it twice as difficult for Atkinson to become the new Jules.

Having read most of my countryman Georges Simenon's books, I have an image of Jules Maigret as a thinker, not a talker. Rowan Atkinson portrays this in a very convincing way. Perhaps a little more pipe- training could come in handy, but other than that it's a realistic Maigret.

The use of Hungary as film location for 1950's Paris is a good choice: the dirty houses and alleys realistically picture the era of a coal-heated metropolis. Dirty cars complete the image, and even the camera-work reminds of the film-noir of the 1940's and '50's.

The only flaws in this and the previous episode, are goofs that could have been avoided easily: the car's headlights should have been yellow, not white (compulsory in France from the mid 1930's until 1993), in lit areas French cars used to drive with the positioning lights on - dip and high beam were only used on dark country roads, not in town. Another goof are the press cameras flash bulbs: until the late 1960's, before the age of electronics, flash bulbs were made of magnesium filaments, and had to be replaced after every shot. It was impossible to flash, flash, flash in a few seconds, like ALL the cameras in this series do. Shame on you, researchers!

I really enjoyed Rowan Atkinson as a mature Jules Maigret, however... on the sly I was hoping for a suspect called... Bob. ;-)

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 :-)

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 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.

A masterclass on how TV drama should be made.

Every camera angle is a painting and not a second is wasted.

(Take note, BBC... there is no need to insert noisy music, misplaced minorities and left wing ideology to make first class drama.)

This time, the second outing of the latest re-boot, Maigret (Rowan Atkinson) almost takes a back seat to the events and characters that surround him. It's a low-energy drama that sees a heavy emphasis on characters and almost none on action.

Also, there isn't much of a story to sink yourself into and unlike the Foyle mysteries, there doesn't seem to be that slow crescendo of suspense that leads to a final act.

This style of drama probably won't appeal much to many people under thirty years old!

But for me, this was a treat... the meticulous yet understated set details (the cars were old and dirty, NOT showroom new and shiny clean!), the disarming harmony between Maigret and Mrs Maigret, the music (which mostly stayed in the background where it should be)... it was British TV drama at it's finest.

I hope that the team that went into this production stay together long enough to churn out a few more just like it. Merry Christmas, me!