Robert Joyner
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Sanjeev Waters
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
jacobgalama-36023
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
lucyrfisher
Another wonderful story from Georges Simenon. The production team have got everything right down to the last detail. The garage full of old cars, the unmade roads, the shabby kitchen of the decaying mansion. The bizarre inhabitants, the girl who has to be locked in her room "for safety". But ultimately it's disappointing. Rowan Atkinson is a good Maigret, but he lacks the character's humour (which Michael Gambon had in spades). Atkinson is too solemn, and - fatally - the writers and director have made him soft-centred. He twinkles slightly at the girl, when she tries to seduce him, but in a melancholy way. Gambon would have flirted back. She is impressed that he doesn't respond, but merely treats her burned fingers. I feel this incident is not in the book (the writers needed a pretext to bring them closer), even though Simenon is always concerned about what characters eat and drink. (Maigret decides the girl needs some poached eggs – but surely Maigret can't cook?)Madame Maigret is given a plonkingly 21st-century speech about the difficulty of being married to a policeman. Anachronistic, and also Cop Show Cliché No. 794. And finally: the director loves filming characters in long shot while they are making a long speech full of plot exposition. And many young actors think that naturalism means keeping your face immobile. I turned on the subtitles.
Khun Kru Mark
This is the third outing of the latest reboot of a familiar character on British TV. Twenty-five years ago (In the early nineties) Michael Gambon played the lead on TV. Before that, a moody Rupert Davis was the man in charge of an early 1960s version for the BBC. This time around a mature Rowan Atkinson is at the helm with a more reserved, stoic and academic interpretation of the French policeman. Maigret's Night at the Crossroads starts with a Jewish jewel fence called Goldberg who goes against his wife's wishes and tries to pull off a last job before moving to America. He's shot at a quiet crossroads in the countryside just outside Paris and his body is discovered the next morning in the garage of a secretive man with a disfigured body and a serious eye problem. Once again the story has perfection in every department. This is the very best of British television drama. The suspects slowly unfold into the narrative and the story glacially meanders to its logical conclusion. If anything, this third installment has a bit more 'action' than the first two tales. A couple of shootings and just a bit of running around in the dark. But mostly the focus is on the exquisite stories of all the characters, their motives and their surroundings.Too may reviewers have spent too much time on the lead actor... which to me is a distraction from almost perfect TV drama. Congratulations to commercial television for taking a chance and doing something right. There is too much public attention thrown towards other more frothy cop shows but this rendition of Maigret makes Broadchurch look like an episode of Scooby-Doo!Make a cup of Horlicks, draw the curtains and ignore the rain then settle in for a bloody good drama.
robert-temple-1
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.