Just finished watching Maigret in Montmartre again, and absolutely loved it.
Pitch perfect in recreating George Simenon's Maigret and Paris between the wars.
The casting was superb. Atkinson was excellent as the dour down beat Maigret, perhaps almost too dour in places but with good range. But the surrounding cast was delightful also. I loved the scrumptious Lucy Cohu as Madame Maigret, her beautifully understated mix of fondness, frustration and patience with him was wonderful, together with Maigret's low-key approving statements of "you're a very clever person" when she made a pivotal suggestion. The understated but loving relationship was superbly evoked including in the last frame. Mme Maigret as scripted and performed is a hidden gem anchoring the series through the downbeat.
And, through all the faded glories, the seedy smoky foggy environs perfectly staged and captured, the ultimate message of deliverance through relationships and positive outcomes shone through in four relationships. Very well scripted, I thought, to deliver a positive end to a very downbeat storyline.
This reimagining, or is it imagining, of between the wars Paris was superbly done (great location work in Budapest, where did they get those crooked and worn steps?). Full credit to the BBC and production company, in the usual superb English manner, of recreating the historic environment, making it totally believable in a very high-quality cinematic manner, and dropping us into the environment.
I accept the cast speaking "working person" English, rather than franglais, which is just as believable as when I watch Kenneth Branagh's series of Wallander with working person English in Sweden.
I look forward to more Maigret, and more Atkinson, and more Madame Maigret as well.
