Il commissario Maigret

I've just caught up with this version, as the Talking Pictures channel (UK - old films and TV) have started showing it, after all 4 series of the 1960s BBC version with Rupert Davies as Maigret (acclaimed by Simenon, apparently).

After the first episode, it's clear the producers and direction went massively for style and atmosphere, preferring them to actual accuracy re the books!

Reviewer Brtor mentions the Gambon versions (2 series) and seems to say they were limited at 55 mins long. Well, that is WRONG, they were about 70 mins or so, fine to tell the stories, and far more accurate to the novels, as they featured Maigret's team, and wife.

THIS Cremer version has a big, thoughtful Maigret, but he seems to have none of he occasional bits of humour seen in the novels, and both the Davies and Gambon versions. This one is also very slow-paced, the time taken up by the camera spending ages looking at the lead, showing the wheels turning in his head as he considers the plot?!

Speaking of plot, the first episode I've seen is the well-known story set in Montmartre, a nightclub stripper is murdered, after making a claim to police that she's overheard a murder plot, and her body quickly turns up dead. All the other TV versions seen in UK did this same story, they all kept to the plot from the book, with only minor changes (the Davies version was only 55 mins, so had to get a move on!). THIS version for some reason makes BIG changes to the story, the death location is changed, also the mode of the death, and 2 characters are merged into one -- maybe one of the actors didn't turn up?!! Quite bizarre, and anyone claiming 'accuracy' can immediately be shown this episode, as I can see no reason for such radical changes.

Oh, another reviewer mentions the Rowan Atkinson version, speaks well of it. However, that short series was also blighted by a very slow pace (2 hour show, though ads took up a few mins) - and RA is a rather glum, taciturn Maigret, a portrayal that generally got panned by Maigret fans used to the books and earlier versions. I daresay this Cremer version will get a similar kind of verdict, as the team seems to have only fringe involvement, almost no use of his faithful aide Lucas for example, which readers of the books will find very odd?!

We'll watch more episodes, as it's an interesting version -- but if the slow pace gets too much to bear (style over substance?!) we may give up.

I am a huge fan of the MhZ International Mystery series where you can catch this show every few weeks. They alternate with Italian, German, Swedish, and in the past Norwegian mysteries. Jules Maigret is the kind of dad you would like to have had growing up. He is intelligent, sophisticated, speaks French, and quite handsome for a big guy. What makes the show hilarious is that he is the only one in each series who has any wisdom whatsoever. The other characters dance around him like complete imbeciles trying to trick him while he smokes his pipe and think that he isn't paying attention. He is a French Sherlock Holmes, without a side kick, though now his nephew has joined in on the action lately and it seems he will stay. The nephew is interested in girls more than crime though and pulls out the machismo whenever he appears to be slacking off, to impress his uncle. His uncle is not impressed though but as a devoted family member tries to teach him the trade. If you love classic film, Masterpiece theater, and generally watch British humor or mysteries on PBS, you have to look for MhZ International programs and find this. They are on Facebook as well.

There are two great Maigret adaptations available online or in DVDs from the 1990s, the British version done by Granada for two seasons in 1992, starring Michael Gambon, and the Dune French version that lasted from 1991 until 2005 with Bruno Cremer. Both have strong qualities, although in many ways they are completely opposite. Gambon's Maigret is affable, poetic, emotional, sympathetic, and works in close concert with his men; his Paris (Budapest) is sunny and bright. Cremer's Maigret is taciturn and intense, preferring to wait silently while people reveal themselves, riding his men hard at times, especially the often incompetent officers he encounters outside of Paris; and his Paris (Prague) is always gray or pitch black, dark wet streets, his pipe glowing. In many ways the visual look of the shows are opposite, with the British series relying more on the romance and nostalgia of Paris, while the French series is a showcase for the dark psychological mysteries of Simenon. The French series hews more closely to the original stories, and also has the advantage of the episodes being 30 minutes longer; it is also a more complete canon, with nearly 5 times as many stories. In the Gambon series, Gambon is more pleasant, his men work with him as a clever team, and we see much more of Mme. Maigret, who appears in nearly every episode, but the humor and the characterizations are typically British, which can be somewhat disconcerting. The Cremer Maigret varies in quality with the directors, but he is almost always brilliant, playing his hunches and guiding his investigations with a deep psychology that truly honors the original Simenon novels. And it goes almost without saying, the French version pulls no punches and has a much darker way of exploring aspects of the French character that the heart of Simenon; Cremer spends a lot of time listening to people and asks questions which seem strange but reveal hidden truths. Gambon's Maigret does more of the talking and seems to succeed more through luck and teamwork, which may be failings of the shorter format and the transition from French to English storytelling. I'm fond of them both, but the Cremer Maigret is one of my favorite television programs, with plenty to love, at over 75 hours. It is also possible to watch the Cremer Maigret's over and over, picking out new clues and details, but there is no such depth to Gambon's Maigret.

I have only recently become familiar with Maigret and I am thrilled with the program. Hopefully I can find and watch all of the episodes.

Thank you...

There have been some outstanding portrayals of Maigret, the most recent Rowan Atkinson versions being quite good, but Bruno Cremer best invokes the spirit of books. Maigret is NOT a procedural, although they are certainly mysteries. They are about people and the human condition, best demonstrated by Maigret's compassion. Sometimes for victims, and yes, sometimes even for the criminals. If there is any failing at all in this fine series, it is the relative absence of his wife, who features more strongly in the books and some other versions. One of the most re-watchable series, I had depended on MHZ to view it and finally obtained a DVD set of the entire series. If you love mysteries, you simply can NOT skip over Maigret.