Maigrets Night at the Crossroads (2017)

Simply Perfect

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

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

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I could grumble about the missing elements in this episode: how there is very little suspense (the shooting of the jeweller's wife is so cursory, so hurried that we barely register it), how the plot gets mangled in the course of the story--it's a major flaw to omit the Paris scene, or Andersen's flight to Belgium, the mediocrity of some of the actors. Still, the decors look pretty good--those Hungarian technicians are capable of recreating French country scenes--and Atkinson is settling down in his part. The Bruno Cremer version is the one to see; it has far better acting and the action is more convincing.

Lucyrfisher : "The production team have got everything right down to the last detail." Almost. The stories plays in 1930 or there abouts. I clearly see a peugeot 403 from 1956 driving out of the frame somewhere during the movie. But maybe they changed the time period for this episode

I was giving up on a good British mystery being made ever again. The BBC stole the rights to Agatha Chriostie from ITV, and left the pretty good Marple series unfinished. Instead we had the foulness of the new Partners in Crime, where we have no mystery, a plot so stupid that you end up wanting to yell at the TV set, horrid acting, and the lead female character acting like she has her period the entire time on screen. Then we have the reanimated George Gently series, which I stopped watching after Detective Gently rolled his eyes when a witness said that world war two veterans were heroes. That turned me off completely. We have Father Brown, where you can guess who the murderer is, because they are always the most respectable and British person around....like I said; All garbage. I thought I was just going to have to keep on re watching Poirot with David Suchet, and Marple series with Julia McKenzie forever if i wanted to see a good mystery. But NO! Here we have the genuine thing! Well acted. Not slavishly similar to the novels, but a good synergistic mix of new and old. A real interesting mystery which I did not guess, and also real fleshed out characters. I want MORE!!!

This is the latest ITV Maigret feature film starring Rowan Atkinson as Maigret. It is based on a novel by Simenon entitled LA NUIT DU CARREFOUR (THE NIGHT OF THE CROSSROADS), which has an interesting cinematic history. It was the very first Simenon novel ever to be filmed, and of course the first Maigret film, in 1932. That was directed by Jean Renoir, and it was a dreary and inept film which was frankly a complete failure (NIGHT AT THE CROSSROADS, 1932, see my review). The novel was more successfully filmed again in 1992 as an episode in the French Maigret series starring Bruno Cremer. However, this new film of the novel is even better, and is a complete success. It is absolutely superb. Atkinson has achieved perfection now in his portrayal of Maigret, and together with that fact, the script by Stewart Harcourt and the direction by Sarah Harding have turned out a spectacular example of drama for ITV, of which everyone can justly be proud. Tom Wlaschiha does a particularly excellent job of portraying the mysterious and tormented character of the Dane who calls himself Andersen, and Mia Jexen does an excellent job also as his equally mysterious 'sister' Else. I would say that Kevin McNally slightly over-acted as Inspector Grandjean, thereby letting us know too early that Grandjean was a 'baddie'. That all could have been done much more subtly, and not telegraphed, and the director should have given him better direction and told him to tone it down. Katherine Kanter did very well as Sarah Goldberg, a part which required a great deal of poise to make up for very little dialogue. I think I should also specially mention Wanda Opalinska, who played the minor character of Jojo, and who might normally not get mentioned in a review. She added a great deal to her small part, using her own wits and instincts, and correctly judging just the right level of suspicious glances and nervous reactions. The production design and music were excellent, as was the case with the previous films in this series. We have really terrific drama here, and let us hope they go on and on.