User Reviews

This French series is now (Spring 2023) being shown on the UK's Talking Pictures channel (so, older films, and TV series from yesteryear, plus some short public information films from the 50s and 60s).

This is a different Maigret, physically imposing (so agrees with the books) but with minimal use of his team, which is strange to UK viewers.

Here we've seen the excellent Rupert Davies as Maigret (60s B&W, on a low budget, some shaky scenery!) and the Gambon version, done about the same time as this French one, though Gambon stopped after 12 episodes in the early 90s. Also we had the later Rowan Atkinson shows, a bigger budget, a good attempt but hampered because RA just wasn't Maigret.

This French interpretation is massively atmospheric, (very French cinema!), all very moody and thoughtful, with Maigret pretty much saying as little as possible. Some viewers think it's great, true to the books, but that is WRONG!! I've read many of the books, I don't recall any that didn't have Lucas, his trusty right-hand man, playing a big part in the investigation. And in these, Lucas hardly ever appears, though they mention "his office".

In this episode, set in Flanders, none of his team appear, not even a phone call to Paris for some background info. Very odd. The story itself was pretty close to the same plot done by Rupert Davies, but that old one told it in an hour, this one with more pauses, and some padding, went for almost 2 hours!

The cast was pretty good, the lead female looked incredibly like Nicole Kidman, which was quite distracting (extremely attractive!) and Maigret even paid her a compliment, though he wondered why she hadn't a partner at 30?

Oh, and this plotline, though broadly similar to the UK one 30 years earlier, rather missed out on implying the mental agony being suffered by the 'apprentice' nun, who'd known how the murder occurred when on a home visit.

But for a French film, the subtitles are good, and I daresay we'll see some more episodes.

Maigret travels to Givet, a French-Belgian border town, after receiving a request to visit there and help the Peeters family deal with the town gossip and accusations of murder. A young woman has disappeared, and it is supposed that this young woman was the lover of Joseph Peeters and had born his son. But was she murdered? The townspeople seem to think so, and they've formed their judgements. Maigret, acting in an unofficial capacity, works with the local investigator in his attempt to unravel what happened. The family of the missing girl along with much of the townspeople assume Maigret is there to protect the Peeters family. After all, the Peeters are the rich-at least rich compared to most of those living in Givet-and the police protect the monied and propertied. Maigret shows no favorites, though, and asks questions and begins to surmise what did take place. You can see it in his eyes.

As with other episodes the casting here is excellent. Alexandre Vandernoot's portrayal of Anna Peeters is spot on. Ms. Vandermoot is quite striking but, correctly, never looks as pretty here as she the actress really is. (Watch her in an episode of "Highlander" and you'll see what I mean.) Gerard Darier provides the perfect Marchere, the local investigator who is clearly out of his league when working with Maigret. Throughout, the film captures the book, nothing is padded, and nothing is overly prolonged. Lingering moments, rambling conversations, and the clanking of glasses all help in revealing the story of a missing girl and the eventual revelation of what happened to her and why.

With this episode I was most anxious to see the ending. Having read the book (twice) I knew "what happened" but this one, as with some of the other Simenon Maigret stories, has an ambiguous ending. As I said, you'll know what happened-the who did it thing-and you'll know how and why, but the conclusion of the book then goes where you don't expect it to go. How might this be filmed without adding an additional 10 - 15 minutes, I wondered. I must say, the script and director pull it off with a simple scene of a moment or two at a train station. I so enjoy a film that captures not just the plot but more importantly in the case of Simenon, the atmosphere, the very feel, of the novel.

(And an aside: Some reviewers of this episode and others fret over Maigret's Paris-based assistants not appearing. Well, they're not in the book upon which this episode is based, so why would anyone expect to see them here.)