MAIGRET AND THE DEAD LOVER Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Pascal Bonitzer
Stars: Denis Podalydes, Anne Alvaro,Micha Lescot, Irene Jacobs, Dominique Reymond, Manuel Guillot, Laurent Poitrenaux, Jeremy Lewin, Matthieu Lucci, Julia Faure, Olivier Rabourdin.
This police procedural from French writer/director Pascal Bonitzer (Auction, etc) is the latest film to feature the fictional detective Inspector Jules Maigret, who was created by prolific Belgian author Georges Simenon. Between 1930 and 1970, Simenon published 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring the detective. In his career Simenon has sold over 500 million books.
As literary sleuths go, Maigret is up there with Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. There have been numerous film and television adaptations of the stories. Maigret has been portrayed by numerous actors including Charles Laughton; French actor Jean Gabin portrayed him in several films in the 1950s and 60s; Gerard Depardieu gave gravitas to the character in a sombre 2022 film; Richard Harris played him in a 1988 tv movies; Michael Gambon played him in the tv series that ran for 12 episodes from 1992-93; and even Mr Bean himself Rowan Atkinson played him in four television movies; and a recent British television series from 2025 saw Maigret played by Benjamin Wainwright.
Now veteran French actor Denis Podalydes (An Officer And A Spy, etc) gives the character a suitably gruff exterior and brings a no-nonsense, weary quality to the role.
The film is based on the 1960 novel Maigret And The Old People. It centres around the murder of Berthier-Lages, a former ambassador, who is found shot to death in his study. The ambassador was apparently involved in a years-long affair with a widowed princess. When Maigret and his team investigate the death, they uncover a series of intimate letters that reveal the affair. Maigret and his team question a number of suspects, including Jacotte (Anne Alvaro, from The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, etc), the man’s long time faithful house servant, his son Mazeron (Micha Lescot, from the upcoming The Great Arch, etc), an upmarket art dealer; members of his family, and even the princess herself.
Given the identity of the victim, this is a politically sensitive investigation and Maigret finds himself having to navigate the halls of power and privilege. But essentially the film unfolds as a police procedural with the forensic details of the investigation, the interrogations of witness and suspects, until the conclusion. But somehow the whole thing unfolds at a leisurely pace, and the film lacks the drama of Rian Johnson’s recent Knives Out series of detective stories featuring he idiosyncratic Benoit Blanc.
Bonitzer’s direction is unhurried, and there are no real surprises here. The outcome is pretty predictable, and detective fiction fans will probably figure it all out before Maigret does. There is something of an old-fashioned feel to the drama with its pacing and lack of urgency.
The film looks great though with some attractive production design from Sebastien Danos (who also worked on Bonitzer’s previous film Auction, etc). Cinematographer Pierre Milon (The Class, etc) captures some beautiful streetscapes of Paris with its café and art galleries.
Irene Jacobs adds a touch of class with her performance as Maigret’s understanding and sympathetic wife Louise, while Dominique Reymond (from Irma Vep, etc) brings a haughty quality to her role as the princess.
★★☆
