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The popular French curator who is the protagonist of several crime novels with international weight is played by Gerard Depardieu, the ideal face to emphasize the existential fatigue of the investigator created by Georges Simenon
A deep melancholy runs through this particular adaptation of one of the cases of the famous French commissioner, created by the novelist Georges Simenon. Starting from ‘Maigret and the dead girl’, Patrice Leconte, French director, screenwriter and actor, with extensive experience, especially worked in the field of comedy, bets on drama and atmosphere, reeling off an investigation that, as in all good thriller, is the perfect excuse to portray human behavior. The filmmaker’s career includes recognized titles such as ‘Monsieur Hire’, ‘The Hairdresser’s Husband’, ‘The Girl on the Bridge’ and ‘The Man on the Train’, which were internationally successful. Here he focuses especially on the figure of the protagonist investigator, a tired man, disenchanted by the lack of empathy that surrounds him, horrified by the latest crime that he has to solve. An anonymous young girl is found stabbed to death in 1950s Paris. She is dressed in an expensive and elegant suit of exclusive design, but initial investigations into the tragedy indicate that the girl barely had anything to put in her mouth. Skinny, almost starving, her beauty and her candor intoxicate the policeman, embodied with an overwhelming physique by the great Gerard Depardieu.
‘Maigret’ is old-fashioned film noir, atmospheric, although Leconte pulls zoom and nervous camera movements from time to time to have his feet in the new century. These resources contribute to the confusion that the main role sometimes shows, a sensitive subject who experiences terror every day in the streets of the French capital. It is usual for him to feel sorry for the victims, but the feeling of sadness weighs on him more and more. Depardieu, accurate in the twilight touch of his character, becomes a paternalistic type to whom life is more and more, surrounded by stupidity. His memory accumulates terrible events that he recalls in each murder and the intrigue at hand inevitably reminds him of a passage in his own history. The portrait of the 50’s, as well as the use of the soundtrack, contribute to creating an environment that is as refined as it is sordid when he plays. Aurore Clément (‘Barbara’), Mélanie Bernier (‘Behind the wall’), Jade Labeste (‘Nos vies formidable’) and Anne Loiret (‘Promises of Paris’) accompany the veteran French star in his deed, on whose shoulders and semblante is supported by a recommendable film, with a tolerable pace, which has a parade of noteworthy supporting artists.
#immense #Depardieu #Maigret