In the year 2019, or we are celebrating the 90th anniversary of the birth of the immortal commissaire Maigret, Le Figaro was organized in the evening of Monday, march 4 in the auditorium Jean d’ormesson, a conference dedicated exclusively to the wonderful universe of Simenon.
To discuss this endless theme, three experts qualities of the work of the great writer liégeois are invited by Olivier Delcroix, the editor-in-chief of the Figaroscope : the filmmakers Patrice Leconte and Jacques Santamaria and, last but not least, John Simenon, the son of the master of the detective novel.
” READ ALSO – The ride “Maigret” by Michel Carly in Paris
In the auditorium, more than a hundred spectators, who are passionate about the subject, to have taken place. For most of them, in the middle of the afternoon, they discovered the Paris of Georges Simenon. This ride has taken place des Vosges, boulevard Richard Lenoir where Madame Maigret prepares the dishes roboratifs who revel in her husband, and of course the 36 quai des orfèvres, the legendary address of the judicial police on the île de la cité. It is here, at the window of his office, as the commissioner likes to watch them sink the Seine while he ponders the mysteries of its investigation.
The complexity of the personality of Jules Maigret cannot of course be summed up to nearly three hours of discussion of the conference. But ungrudgingly to the task, these inspectors Lucas, Torrence and January that have become, for the duration of this master class, Patrice Leconte, John Simenon and Jacques Santamaria grind, without seeing the hours pass, first the style without a false collar of Georges Simenon. Unanimous, our exegetes conclude: the point of bold text in the descriptions of this genius of a detective novel, as André Gide considered to be “…the greatest novelist, really novelist of our time”.
” READ ALSO – Jacques Santamaria: “Simenon is expected to have a street with his name in Paris”
and Then, with the help of excerpts from film adaptations ( Maigret tightens a trap , The case of Saint-Fiacre …), projected by the video service of the Figaro, the debate ends on the art of playing Maigret. The greatest actors have worn his heavy overcoat and smoked his pipe. The speakers cite Pierre Renoir, Jean Gabin, Bruno Cremer… Patrice Leconte recalls that for the embody to perfection, it is necessary to learn to respect his silence.
Patrice Leconte adapts Maigret and the young dead
The evening ends in triumph. Patrice Leconte, always himself, announces that he is in the process of finalizing the adaptation of Maigret and the young dead , a survey around the place de Clichy, not far from the Batignolles district. Jacques Santamaria emphasises the appropriateness of its choice because “the feelings of the victim are excavated with attention to detail”. And for what is already promising to be an event, a talented team that is already established. The screenwriter Jérôme Tonnerre and the composer Michael Nyman will be required to make the universe so particular of the novelist in belgium.
In the vein of confidences, the filmmaker will deliver a scoop that is worth its weight in gold. This will be Daniel Auteuil who will have the arduous task of impersonating Jules Maigret. A new tour de force, certainly for the one, who took the succession of the immense Raimu in Marcel Pagnol’s work.
In the meantime to discover the film of Patrice Leconte, to be released on screens in 2020, The Figaro you this, in the video, two investigations of commissioner Maigret with Bruno Cremer and Jean Gabin.
● Bruno Cremer in the skin of Jules Maigret.
● Maigret tightens a trap of Jean Delannoy, dialogue of Michel Audiard, with Jean Gabin, Annie Girardot, Jean Desailly…
