Maigret Sets a Trap (1958)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This year was devoted to deepening my appreciation of Simenon's works; this is the best film version of his novels. From the first scene, with a nervous Insp. Lagrume trying to keep abreast of a violent confrontation in the Place des Vosges--the fourth killing by a sadistic serial killer--to the ending with Lagrume again trying to curry favour with an exasperated Maigret, this film held me spellbound. The acting is superb: Gabin has his best role since the glory days with Renoir in the 30's, Desailly is extraordinary as the wretched Maurin, pulled by mother and wife both and hating it, Annie Girardot is wonderfully sensual and determined as the young wife, and Lucienne Bogaert plays the mother from Hell with the greatest skill. The hatred the two women have for each other is palpable. All the supporting players turn in fine work, especially Gerard Sety as Jojo the gigolo who manages to stir the emotions of Yvonne Maurin, for a while at least.It seems there is no general Region 1 release for this film; that's a real shame. I found a cheap knockoff without special features in a cutout bin in Montreal. Please let's have a proper reissue.

Watching this movie you understand why young French filmmakers of that time were desperate to develop a new movie language. It's a prime example of what they derisively called "Cinema du Papa", as in stuffy and dated. Indeed this movie might as well have been made in 1938 instead of 1958. It's set-bound, slow-moving and talky, with stock characters and predictable plot twists. The atmosphere it evokes is hardly that of a bustling metropolis, more a provincial backwater with outdated attitudes towards women and artists. It seems to aim at an audience who weren't at all interested in jazz or existentialism, and who still saw Picasso as a third-rate con artist. Women should take care of their husbands, like Mrs. Maigret, ready to supply him with his pipe and slippers and serve his soup. And real men should choose manly professions, like butcher, or they can turn out pathetic mummy's boys. Or worse.....Less critical viewers may enjoy this as a pleasant policier from a bygone age with a competent performance by the legendary Jean Gabin. Me for one am glad the New Wave of French filmmakers was already waiting in the wings to clear out the cobwebs.

Alongside Molinaro's "La Mort de Belle", the best adaptation of a Simenon story for the big screen.Helmer Delannoy proves a past master at creating a stifling atmosphere ( night scenes, a hot stormy weather, a heady melody pervading the story ), managing to make the tension rise and swell regularly until it explodes in a triple climax ( Maurice's interrogation, the confrontation of Maurice's wife and mother, the final attempt to murder Mauricette ). So, when the rain finally starts falling in the final seconds of the movie, it does as much good to bulky, weary Gabin as it does to the tense viewer.Of course, the film benefits from a great interpretation : Jean Gabin gives life to his determined-shrewd-exhausted "commissaire" while Jean Desailly shines as the poor but dangerous Maurice whose boyhood has been prolonged by the misguided love of his mother ( Lucienne Bogaërt, perfect ). And Annie Girardot plays subtly and with welcome restraint the loving wife of a monster.Sure, Misraki's music and song are haunting and the camera-work is sleek, but what actually makes this film a major work is that the authors( R.M.Arlaud, Delannoy and Audiard ) are true to the spirit of Simenon : disillusioned with human nature but sympathetic with those who are its victims, however monstrous they may appear to society.

Maigret is looking after a women killer in Paris. It's the occasion to see some places from the old Paris. Jean Gabin is really fit for the role of Maigret. Hopefully it's not a movie where the whole action takes place in a police office. In that film you can also see a young beginner named Lino Ventura.