I found this pilot a little slow but it kept my attention to the end. Rowan Atkinson was OK - a little too controlled - perhaps to counteract his Mr Bean persona - he will probably relax into the part if it continues. The only irritant for me was watching it through a perpetual cloud of smoke. It gives you the shivers these days to see so many cigarettes and "The Pipe" constantly billowing horrible fumes.
shareI thought it was brilliant reminded me of Poirot to be honest because it is set around the same time and in France.
Rowan Atkinson was very good. Fantastic story where you are never sure if the suspect is actually guilty or not plenty of twists and turns in this first episode the only thing that bugged me is like someone else said the detectives seemed English not French they all had English accents which was probably a mistake.
I liked the cinematography though it seemed like a modern approach of an old story if that makes any sense, like a modern Gothic approach on it.
Looking forward to the next episodes, wonder how many more there will be.
Thanks for replying.
I liked the locations - with regard to accents - I think it may have ended up as Franglish and sounded overdone and weird coming out of English mouths!
I think it very likely that it will continue for a while.
Accents are a difficult problem when a story is set in a foreign country and *everyone* would be speaking a language other than English. A French or German character in an otherwise British environment may speak English with a French or German accent. But when everyone is supposed to be French, I think it might be hard to follow if they all speak English (so English viewers can understand!) but with French accents. If characters all speak English with French accents, you lose the subtlety of people's accents matching their background and upbringing.
I'm trying to remember how the Michael Gambon version of Maigret addressed this problem. I don't remember fake-French accents.
Thank you for your response. I can't remember the Michael Gambon accents either! I think I would rather just stay with English actors speaking in English - we know it's a French character in a French setting - that's really sufficient. Fake French accents would seriously irritate me and I would probably turn it off!
share@martinu-2: The Michael Gambon version of Maigret had no fake-French accents. The actors spoke in different english accents to, as you said, match the background and upbringing of their characters. And good thing they did too. I don't like fake accents, and honestly, since the show is british, knowing the characters are french is enough, there is no need for the actors to speak in fake accents. I mean, in the french versions of Agatha Chistie stories, for example - and there are a few - the actors don't speak french with a english accent just because the characters are english, do they? Now if you had a french character in a english setting, that would be different.
shareThanks for your reply. I haven't read the novels - but sometimes slowness can be a relief from all the noisy implausible gung ho cop shows currently saturating our televisions.
I will continue to watch it - if it returns - I also like the relative quietness of it - I hate constant background music- even over conversations.
It's an interesting mixture of pace. Generally it's slow and lingering and contemplative, but the opening scene is pared down to the very minimum: we see the first victim attacked, we see Janvier take a phone call (presumably informing him of the death, though no words are said), then we see him going along to Maigret's office (again, no dialogue apart from Maigret's "Come in") and finally we we see Maigret in the car on the way to the murder scene. Very sparse - but quite effective not to have all the linking dialogue "A murder? Whereabouts? OK, we'll be there." "Chief, there's been a murrrrder [sorry, I'm lapsing into Taggart!] - young woman in an alley in Montmartre" / "Merde! Not another one!" etc.
shareYes - it assumes people can think for themselves - quite a refreshing change!!
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