Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery (2013)

Very Cool!!!

A Masterpiece!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Beloved school teacher Jane Neal (Bronwen Mantel) takes an arrow through the chest in the first scene. The murder mystery in the small community of Three Pines gives us lots of suspects and twists in what appears to be an old fashion mystery.This is a made for TV film made in the part of Quebec where a community of poets, artists, and gays all speak English and nothing as vulgar as French. Once I got over that part, I noticed the characters were rather bland. They had good lines and roles, by the acting and directing was second rate. The guy I had pegged for the killer, wasn't it...but I was close. The clues lead us everywhere like a good mystery.The film had potential. Worth a view for fans of TV mysteries.

Unlike other reviewers, I haven't read any of the Inspector Gamache series. But I love Nathaniel Parker, so I watched this.Have to say it was a big bust.It was directed in a static fashion and moved slowly. Also, the acting was pretty bad.Even the mystery wasn't impressive, at least the way it was set up.An elderly woman is killed in the woods by an arrow; she was beloved in the community, so who could have killed her and why?Inspector Gamache (Parker) investigates. Someone called this "Inspector Lynley Goes to Quebec." I didn't find Parker like Inspector Lynley, who had quite a temper and wasn't anywhere as near as quiet as Gamache.The characters were not well fleshed out. All in all, kind of a waste. Reminded me of the Canadian films of Mary Higgins Clark movies - not well done.

How can a movie be so terribly miscast? Not one character even remotely resembled the characters in the books. How could Ms. Penny allow such a travesty? Maybe she should influence a movie like J.K. Rowling, who most certainly can give her a lesson on influence casting and bringing characters to life. Why does a movie like that need to look as it was just made for the Lifetime channel? I was truly hoping for getting to know the book characters, however they were just pretty people (except for Ruth Zardo, who was the only one I would say OK) speaking to stiff and to flat. There was no life in any of them. Nathaniel Parker, I really liked in the Inspector Linley series, is just not a French Canadian inspector. This would have (with the right cast) been better as a mini series, where all the quirkiness of the Three Pines Characters could be better flushed out.

All in all, an excellent movie, very enjoyable. I discount all the comments made by other reviewers that the cast is not as depicted in the book. All movie directors use literary licence to make changes. Louise Penny was the executive producer, and must have given her blessing. All the actors really performed very well.However .... 1. Jane's dog "Lucy" is definitely male, not female. 2. Agent Nicolle is called the french pronounciation at the beginning of the movie, but later her name is pronounced 'Nickle'. 3. The french intonations and accents are not consistent, but come and go. 4. The arrow that Clara sees embedded in the tree is black with small white fleches, but the arrow that Beauvoir removes from the tree is brown, is longer, and has large white fleches. hf1934.