Maigret (TV Series) Maigret et le fou de Sainte Clothilde (2002) User Reviews

La Place de Peyton

[orebaugh · 6/10 · 26 August 2006]

A man leaps from a moving train en route to Strasbourg. Maigret follows, but twists his ankle in the process and is laid up in St. Clotilde. Hearing of an attempted murder similar to a killing seven years ago, Maigret decides to stay in town and solve the case.

Understated compared to American fare, there is nonetheless intrigue as Maigret probes the secrets and entanglements of the town's "Four Aces": doctor, lawyer, police chief, and mayor. But despite a promising beginning and middle, the ending (executed in classic suspects-in-the-drawing-room style), rather flops. The cast is up to the task, but the script demands too little of them.

"More solutions emerge from the past then from the present."

[garywhalen · 6/10 · 4 February 2024]

George Simenon's novel "The Madman of Bergerac," upon which this film is based, is one of Simenon's more taut mystery novels, and that's saying something for Simenon whose novels are seldom if ever bloated. Much is packed into its story: Maigret in intrigued by a fellow passenger on a train. Maigret jumps off the train to follow him. Injured (differing from the original story where Maigret is shot in the novel) he finds himself in a town traumatized by a murder and an attempted murder of women, not unlike similar events from the town's past. Forced to remain in the town for a few days, first in a hospital bed and then in a hotel as he recovers, Maigret investigates. He quickly focuses on a doctor, a lawyer, the police chief, and the mayor.

As the film began and then proceeded to move through the story, I was surprised at how well the filmmakers were adjusting the book's plot to a later time. (The novel is set in the early 1930s, but the film is set in the early 1950s.) The change in time matters and parts of the novel's plot wouldn't work two decades in the future. But then . . . But then the filmmakers found themselves unwilling to keep with the novel's conclusion. And there was no reason not to keep with Simenon's denouement. It's as though the scriptwriters got to the end and got bored and had no desire to craft an ending that aligned even somewhat with the novel. The actors do the best they can with what they're given, but this is a disappointing episode, and I think that disappointment will hold true even for someone who hasn't read the book.

Maigret Jumps off a Train? The Producers should have tried a Cliff?!

[Tony-Holmes · 3/10 · 13 March 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!

I haven't liked all the episodes so far of this Cremer version, but some have been great. THIS one however is really disappointing, it gets off to a ludicrous start, Maigret is on a train, travelling to meet his wife, but supposedly gets fascinated by a passenger (we see no real evidence), so much so that when the man jumps off the moving train, so does our hero, LEAVING BEHIND his belongings including papers and money?! As if cool calm and collected Maigret would do such a thing?!

He twists an ankle, ends up in the hospital of the small town in the title, and he then gets sucked into a murder mystery that's been causing a scandal, with attacks on women dating back several years.

The reviews by orebaugh and whalen as usual describe the events very well, and like me are baffled why the producers decided to radically change the plot in the book? This episode was in the old BBC (Rupert Davies) series, and they did a much better job with this story, told in just an hour too!!

Maigret digs back into the past (that concept was in the book), and finds a likely motive concerning the 4 key people in the small town, doctor, lawyer, police chief and mayor. Then the estranged wife of one of them becomes another victim, just when she was about to reveal some secret to him.

Any casual viewers of this episode should beware a scene in which we get to see graphic details of the porn collection that one of the suspects keeps in his attic. I hope the series gets back on track with the next one!