Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery

I love the Gamache books and was so excited for the movie. What a painful disappointment. Nathaniel Parker is definitely not the Gamache I imagined, but the most astounding miscast is Clara. Louise Penny's descriptions are closer to Helena Bonham-Carter than the beautiful blonde actress playing the character. Clara is unkempt, always has crumbs in her hair and paint smudges on her face, has no fashion sense and frizzy hair. By contrast, the Clara in the movie is straight out of a Hollywood red carpet.

Don't even get me started on Myrna (who is not only about 100kg off, but never has a chance to say a line and is not even referred to by name).

Yet, I feel that (mis)casting is not the complete issue here. Someone needs to tell the screenwriter that book adaptations to screen are not required to use the book dialogue word for word. What works in a book sounds clunky and is difficult to deliver in a movie, no matter how good the actors may be. Adaptations are tough, yes, but the name says it all - take the essence and create your own dialogue! Meryl Streep and Anthony Hopkins couldn't deliver those lines with straight faces!

Just for fun, here is my Hollywood, award-winning dream cast, dead or alive:

Inspector Gamache - Geoffrey Rush or Jean Reno | Jean-Guy - Jean Dujardin | Clara - Rachel Weisz or Helena Bonham-Carter | Peter - Christian Bale | Gabri - Phillip Seymour Hoffman :-( | Olivier - Jared Leto | Ben - Adrien Brody | Ruth Zardo - Judy Dench | Myrna - Octavia Spencer

I think that maybe I might be in the minority here ! Having read all the reviews before me , I did think twice about writing mine, but decided to go ahead , even though I think I might get a lot of thumbs down.

I have not read any of the books, so these characters are new to me.

I really enjoyed the whole film, the plot, the characters , the setting , and the fact that I did not have a clue as to who the murderer was !

Usually , these type of movies are fairly predictable and boring , but I found this one very interesting and mysterious!

The location was absolutely beautiful , maybe that drew me in also .

So, for me it worked , but I can appreciate that fans of this author's work do beg to differ !

I was so looking forward to seeing the adaptation of the Inspector Gamache series set in the fictitious town of Three Pines somewhere in Quebec. I have read every book in Louise Penny's series and I have enjoyed Nathaniel Parker's acting in several different works. Somehow, though, the TV-movie of "Still Life" just fell flat. I think maybe a one and a half hour TV movie just wasn't enough to fully develop the characters and some of the acting was just so-so. Whatever it was, it was certainly not up to the caliber of Inspector Morse or Inspector Lewis, however beautiful the cinematography. I would say that if another episode is filmed, I would have to watch it.

Unlike other reviewers, I haven't read any of the Inspector Gamache series. But I love Nathaniel Parker, so I watched this.

Have to say it was a big bust.

It was directed in a static fashion and moved slowly. Also, the acting was pretty bad.

Even the mystery wasn't impressive, at least the way it was set up.

An elderly woman is killed in the woods by an arrow; she was beloved in the community, so who could have killed her and why?

Inspector Gamache (Parker) investigates. Someone called this "Inspector Lynley Goes to Quebec." I didn't find Parker like Inspector Lynley, who had quite a temper and wasn't anywhere as near as quiet as Gamache.

The characters were not well fleshed out.

All in all, kind of a waste. Reminded me of the Canadian films of Mary Higgins Clark movies - not well done.

Critics need to remember this movie is based on one novel, not 11! I thought it was a treat to see Penny's characters come to life, even though they didn't exactly meet my expectations. Her Gamache novels are murder mysteries, after all, and while the movie doesn't have the books' atmospheric quality, it does a fine job with the characters and the plot. Looking forward to another!