Another wonderful story from Georges Simenon. The production team have got everything right down to the last detail. The garage full of old cars, the unmade roads, the shabby kitchen of the decaying mansion. The bizarre inhabitants, the girl who has to be locked in her room "for safety". But ultimately it's disappointing. Rowan Atkinson is a good Maigret, but he lacks the character's humour (which Michael Gambon had in spades). Atkinson is too solemn, and - fatally - the writers and director have made him soft-centred. He twinkles slightly at the girl, when she tries to seduce him, but in a melancholy way. Gambon would have flirted back. She is impressed that he doesn't respond, but merely treats her burned fingers. I feel this incident is not in the book (the writers needed a pretext to bring them closer), even though Simenon is always concerned about what characters eat and drink. (Maigret decides the girl needs some poached eggs – but surely Maigret can't cook?)
Madame Maigret is given a plonkingly 21st-century speech about the difficulty of being married to a policeman. Anachronistic, and also Cop Show Cliché No. 794.
And finally: the director loves filming characters in long shot while they are making a long speech full of plot exposition. And many young actors think that naturalism means keeping your face immobile. I turned on the subtitles.