Maigret (TV Series) Maigret chez les riches (2000) User Reviews

Hmm ... the rich ARE different ...

[orebaugh · 7/10 · 17 December 2005]

M. Emile Parendon, a business attorney, receives a letter which may or may not be a threat. As a favor, Commissaire Jules Maigret looks into the affair, though there's no real crime -- yet. Suspects include Mme. Parendon, one son, one daughter, three employees, and three servants. (Each of these gets a one-line character description courtesy of the butler in an amusing exchange.) With the able assistance of his nephew Paul, Maigret has to uncover what's going on before someone gets hurt -- especially after he gets letters himself.

As one can tell from the title, the Parendons are indeed rich, and most of the action takes place in their strikingly opulent home, which also holds M. Parendon's office. The story unfolds quietly enough, as is the case with the other Maigret films I've seen. There's plenty here to hold one's attention. As an aside, Celia Granier-Deferre (playing Bambi Parendon) is the daughter of director Denys Granier-Deferre, who is the son of teleplay adapter Pierre Granier-Deferre. All in the family!

"She may be asleep, but she has style."

[garywhalen · 8/10 · 18 December 2023]

After receiving a strange letter that predicts a murder without naming the future victim nor perpetrator, Emile Parendon, a highly paid corporate lawyer, contacts Inspector Maigret. Maigret visits Parendon at his home and then he (Maigret) receives an anonymous letter warning of a murder, too. (In the book Maigret receives all the letters, written on expensive stationary, which warn of a future murderer, but none provide information as to who the murderer or victim is. Maigret traces the paper to the law firm and then to Mr. Parendon.) Eventually there is a murder.

I dislike the title given to this episode. (George Simenon's novel, upon which this episode is based, is "Maigret Hesitates.") While the family at the center of the story is rich, that's not what drives the plot. As for that plot, much comes down to timing: Who had the opportunity to commit the murder considering the estimated time of the murder? Maigret realizes that if he can figure that out the motive will become apparent. On the morning of the murder the house is full of people moving room to room. Who would be in a position to find that tiny window of time needed to kill and be unobserved?

The setup and the motive are reasonable here, though I think the Parendon children's ages in the book make a better story. They are older in the film (teenagers or even early 20s maybe) and that added age makes them and their encounters with Maigret, I think, less interesting. Again, Maigret is joined by his nephew Inspector Paul Lachenal, who it seems is a composite of Maigret's various assistants in this and future episodes. I would guess that Maigret purists will not like it-and I can understand that-but it doesn't bother me.

Maigret Chex Les Riches - and cures insomnia?

[Tony-Holmes · 4/10 · 31 January 2024]

Saw this on the Talking Pictures channel (UK, old films and TV). They had previously shown the 1960s series (50+ episodes, BBC, B&W) featuring Rupert Davies, a generally acclaimed Maigret.

We've also seen the excellent 12 episodes (2 series) that ITV did (90s) with Michael Gambon as Maigret (terrific portrayal) and the less successful later efforts with Rowan Atkinson in the lead.

This Cremer version is of course French, with subtitles, but they are not too wordy, so fairly easy to follow. Also very French, lots of atmosphere, meaningful looks, thoughtful silences.

I see some reviews refer to how faithful this version is to the books, a ludicrous statement in one respect, as Lucas, his main assistant in all the books I've seen, has almost completely disappeared! At this stage in these Cremer versions, his nephew has appeared, it seems a composite of his team in the books?

I haven't liked all the episodes so far of this Cremer version, but the last 2 or 3 have been excellent, sadly this one was a real 'clunker'. It could have been another homage to Agatha Christie, and a 'country house' mystery (though set in a Paris mansion of a very wealthy lawyer).

As the other reviews have described, it's a murder that started with a letter warning of one, plenty of suspects, mum, dad, 2 privileged kids, a couple of other lawyers, a very attractive secretary, and a bunch of servants. In one telling and typical moment, Maigret declares himself more at home 'below stairs'!

As usual, the acting is very good, but I couldn't warm to this one, I nodded off several times well before the end.

The drawback I thought was with the pacing, and although it is the style of this series to be slow and thoughtful, this one overdid things a bit in that regard? At one point somewhere in the middle -- the victim had yet to be bumped off -- I thought I didn't really care who it would be, or 'whodunnit'.