This is a fairly routine sort of Maigret, but with many nice touches to keep the spectator's attention. Cécile has often seen Maigret to complain about mysterious nocturnal goings-on in the apartment she shares with her elderly aunt, to the extent that she's become a standing joke with Maigret's subordinates, but so far the police found no sign of wrong-doing. Then the aunt is found murdered and Cécile goes missing, only to turn up dead in a broom cupboard in the Palace of Justice. Embarrassing for the police, but it gives Maigret an excuse to shift his attention from a tedious surveillance operation elsewhere and dig into the backgrounds of the miserly aunt and her downstairs neighbour, a shady debarred lawyer from Fontenay-le-Comte.
Sad, but ain't sadness the specter of vice?! The concept that these are 'psychological mysteries' is an apt one. It's also a very fast movie, you won't feel that you've wasted any time on it. There isn't a particularly fascinating plotline. The ending, however, surprises and sounds realistic. Of course there are a few ellipses along the development of the plot. Of course Maigret mopes around a lot of the time with his hands in his pockets, arguing with suspects like a grumpy old grandpa. Of course there is a strong sense of established character here: you are expected to watch this movie knowing that Maigret is who he is, and you watch it because you expect him to behave in a very certain way. Which he does.
Sad, but ain't sadness the specter of vice?! The concept that these are 'psychological mysteries' is an apt one. It's also a very fast movie, you won't feel that you've wasted any time on it. There isn't a particularly fascinating plotline. The ending, however, surprises and sounds realistic. Of course there are a few ellipses along the development of the plot. Of course Maigret mopes around a lot of the time with his hands in his pockets, arguing with suspects like a grumpy old grandpa. Of course there is a strong sense of established character here: you are expected to watch this movie knowing that Maigret is who he is, and you watch it because you expect him to behave in a very certain way. Which he does.