Maigret se défend
- Episode aired May 7, 1993
- 1h 21m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
94
YOUR RATING
Someone is out to get Maigret into trouble, and he must defend himself vigorously.Someone is out to get Maigret into trouble, and he must defend himself vigorously.Someone is out to get Maigret into trouble, and he must defend himself vigorously.
Photos
Philippe du Janerand
- Docteur Melan
- (as Philippe Dujanerand)
Ewan Maclaren
- Jeune inspecteur
- (as Ewan McLaren)
Josef Sebek
- Inspecteur Fournier
- (as Joseph Sebek)
Storyline
Featured review
Maigret combines TWO stories?!
Just saw this on the UK Talking Pictures channel (old films and TV shows). We're Maigret veterans, having seen all the Rupert Davies ones (BBC, early 60s), all the Michael Gambon ones (ITV, 90s) and the sadly inferior later shows with Rowan Atkinson doing a rather glum Maigret, and taking 2 hours per episode.
This French version is, well, very French, lots of thoughtful looks and pauses, apparently a shortage of light bulbs (!), and is quite a tough watch at nearly 2 hours. But the lead is very good, a Maigret faithful to the books, (yes, we've read lots of them too!) though we're baffled why Lucas, his trusty assistant, appears I reckon in every such book, is only rarely shown? Strange.
I see the usually accurate Lucy Fisher has reviewed this one, just hours before me I think, and likes the interpretation of Torrance, compared to the almost comedy version they had in the Davies shows. Well, for the purpose of this episode, he was fine, and wasn't too far from the book version, though perhaps not big enough?!
The Fisher review ALSO spots - rightly - that this episode has bizarrely mixed 2 stories (why?) with the Palmari gangster figure actually appearing in 'Patience of Maigret', and is a murder victim. The Gambon shows (2 series) covered BOTH these stories, with a quite different suspect being constantly shadowed re a series of jewel robberies (Henri Lautier, a market porter who lives strangely well) and coinciDENTALly living just across the road from the dentist whose apparent girlfriend has set-up Maigret to make a false rape accusation, and get him out of their hair (but why?!).
So, some confusion, why use the Palmari character in this? We couldn't see why. But the overall acting is good, and the atmosphere is nicely captured, albeit a bit slowly for some tastes (my sister finds these French ones too 'moody', and far too slow!). And if you study the closing titles (sub-titles not a problem in this version BTW) you'll see a lot of Czech names, as a fairly dark and grubby Prague is subbing for Paris in the external shots. The Gambon series used Hungarian technicians and some actors in those episodes, Budapest looking more like Simenon's old Paris.
(PS - we've added a theory why the Palmari character - and his partner Aline - appears in this episode, as opposed to the actual Simenon story. We think the producer or director owed the actor a favour, and cast him/them in this story, as well as the 'Patience of Maigret' that Simenon intended? We assume THAT story hasn't been tinkered with in a similar way? Maybe the couple that SHOULD have been in this one have been transposed into THAT show?! Bizarre!)
This French version is, well, very French, lots of thoughtful looks and pauses, apparently a shortage of light bulbs (!), and is quite a tough watch at nearly 2 hours. But the lead is very good, a Maigret faithful to the books, (yes, we've read lots of them too!) though we're baffled why Lucas, his trusty assistant, appears I reckon in every such book, is only rarely shown? Strange.
I see the usually accurate Lucy Fisher has reviewed this one, just hours before me I think, and likes the interpretation of Torrance, compared to the almost comedy version they had in the Davies shows. Well, for the purpose of this episode, he was fine, and wasn't too far from the book version, though perhaps not big enough?!
The Fisher review ALSO spots - rightly - that this episode has bizarrely mixed 2 stories (why?) with the Palmari gangster figure actually appearing in 'Patience of Maigret', and is a murder victim. The Gambon shows (2 series) covered BOTH these stories, with a quite different suspect being constantly shadowed re a series of jewel robberies (Henri Lautier, a market porter who lives strangely well) and coinciDENTALly living just across the road from the dentist whose apparent girlfriend has set-up Maigret to make a false rape accusation, and get him out of their hair (but why?!).
So, some confusion, why use the Palmari character in this? We couldn't see why. But the overall acting is good, and the atmosphere is nicely captured, albeit a bit slowly for some tastes (my sister finds these French ones too 'moody', and far too slow!). And if you study the closing titles (sub-titles not a problem in this version BTW) you'll see a lot of Czech names, as a fairly dark and grubby Prague is subbing for Paris in the external shots. The Gambon series used Hungarian technicians and some actors in those episodes, Budapest looking more like Simenon's old Paris.
(PS - we've added a theory why the Palmari character - and his partner Aline - appears in this episode, as opposed to the actual Simenon story. We think the producer or director owed the actor a favour, and cast him/them in this story, as well as the 'Patience of Maigret' that Simenon intended? We assume THAT story hasn't been tinkered with in a similar way? Maybe the couple that SHOULD have been in this one have been transposed into THAT show?! Bizarre!)
helpful•01
- Tony-Holmes
- Apr 14, 2023
Details
- Runtime1 hour 21 minutes
- Color
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