Maigret Sets a Trap (2016)

Waste of time

Strong and Moving!

Pretty Good

Blistering performances.

I love the series. In particular the reserved respectful style of the police feels good in today's world. But one thing left me puzzled. The police found the suit that was supposedly given to a homeless. But if this was the suit of the murderer then there must be a missing piece of cloth. Nobody mentions this in the movie. Odd!

"How would you like a fantastic opportunity to get out of your comfort zone as an actor?" Of course I wasn't there, but this easily might have been what Rowan Atkinson's agent said to him when the role of Inspector Maigret presented itself. Atkinson is immortal thanks to his famous comedy/slapstick roles (like "Blackadder", "Johnny English" and especially "Mr. Bean") so it's quite an impressive and risky undertaking to take up the role of a dead- serious, stoic and intelligent French police detective. Perhaps it's because I personally don't have any issues with separating actors/actresses from their typecast roles, or perhaps it's simply because Rowan Atkinson is such a terrific and professional performer, but all throughout "Maigret Sets a Trap" you never once get the impression that he's miscast. You immediately accept Atkinson as Maigret and never associate his appearance here with the idiotic facial expressions of Mr. Bean. Hats off to you, Mr. Atkinson, you are a phenomenal actor. Evidently, people who're familiar with "Blackadder" knew this already for years… With regards to "Maigret Sets a Trap", be careful to set your expectations. It's a straightforward and compelling whodunit thriller with a solid screenplay and tense atmosphere, but it most certainly has its limitations in terms of spectacle. Bear in mind it's a TV- thriller and that the story is more than 60 years old already. That means there aren't any CGI-techniques used in the murder investigation and the character of Inspector Maigret certainly also isn't a super- detective like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. He's a bright man, but he also makes mistakes, doubts himself and takes unnecessary risks. During the 1950s in Montmartre, a community close to Paris, Maigret and his team are confronted with a serial killer who already murdered four girls in the narrow streets during the night. Comparisons with Jack the Ripper from London are quickly made and Maigret is under a lot of pressure since there hasn't been any progress in six months. When he finds out more about the psychology and profiling of serial killers, Maigret decides to provoke the culprit via the media and set a trap to apprehend him. The plan works and Maigret arrests his suspect, but is this man really guilty? "Maigret Sets a Trap" doesn't feature any wild car chases, steamy sex sequences, virulent shoot-outs or nasty make- up effects, but it's a respectful new adaptation of a classic suspense novel. The re-creation of the 50s in Paris is particularly well-handled, with beautiful decors, costumes and cars. Atkinson is great and receives excellent support from a dozen of adequate players.

When will British actors figure out how to pronounce French words that end with an "e"?It's so easy: you DO NOT pronounce the final "e". Montmartre is pronounced "Montmartr'", not Monmartreuh.In English, you don't say "what is your nameuh" or "May I borrow your phoneuh", or "I do my shopping onlineuh"Rowan Atkinson did a very good job (a bit too thin to play overweight Maigret, though). Full marks for not having his wife call him by his first name, which she never did in all Simenon's books, fact which was totally ignored in the awful Richard Harris 1988 incarnation.Ghastly loud muzak we could have done without.So please Rowan and the rest of the cast, drop the "euh" and please Mr Producer, don't bother with the silly muzak.

Watching another version of Maigret inevitably prompts comparison between Rowan Atkinson's interpretation of the role and that of previous actors: Rupert Davies and Michael Gambon on television, Maurice Denham and Nicholas le Prevost on radio. While lacking the physical and vocal presence of all of these actors, Atkinson brings a quiet dignity to the inspector's personality; a police officer remaining unflappable even in the face of adversity, such as the prospect of being removed from the case due to an inability to obtain quick results.The plot of MAIGRET SETS A TRIP is less of a whodunit and more of a whydunit. We know quite early on in the episode who the murderer is; what matters is to find out precisely why they should have decided to kill innocent women. When Fiona Shaw appears as the suspect's mother, in a highly florid characterization full of tragic expressions and melodramatic gesture (inviting a Freudian interpretation of her relationship to her son), we can understand the victim's behavior.Stewart Harcourt's script contains some clunky dialogue (one particular nugget occurs when Maigret says "take care" to a group of plain- clothes female police officers who are about to go on the streets of Montmartre, thereby putting themselves in danger of being attacked by the murderer). Yet Simeonon's source-text is so astutely structured that it emerges intact, despite the screenplay's best efforts to ruin it. We sympathize with Maigret as he patiently fits the evidence together, asking all the right questions and coming to conclusions as a result.Filmed mostly in Budapest, standing in for Fifties Paris, apart from some location shots in Monmartre, Ashley Pearce's production reinforces familiar stereotypes about the French capital as a place for lovers, or citizens prepared to spend their days sitting outside in cafés watching the world go by. The period atmosphere is meticulously recreated, although it seems just a little too chocolate-box like on occasions.This episode ends with a shot of Maigret walking away from camera along a tree-lined road (the Jardin des Tuilieries, perhaps?), thereby reinforcing the familiar tele-stereotype of the detective forced to live a solitary life in his efforts to solve crimes. This version of MAIGRET might have its faults, but it is sufficiently watchable to encourage us to watch further episodes.