71
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneThis final film -- after so many dazzling studies of adultery, such as "La Femme Infidele (1969) -- is a touching and unfashionable hymn to married love. [1 Nov. 2010, p.121]
- 80NPRElla TaylorNPRElla TaylorInspector Bellamy is dedicated to the memory of two famous Georges: the drily ironic singer Brassens, and Georges Simenon, whose crime novels go for the jugular of bourgeois France - and dig deep into the black hearts of those who, just when they imagine they have hit bottom, can always sink lower.
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottThe ease and professionalism that distinguished this prolific director's later work is very much in evidence, as is an insouciant attitude, at once resigned and dismissive, toward mortality.
- 75New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithInspector Bellamy leaves a sense not unlike a summary of Chabrol's entire career -- of guilty stains seeping away in every direction, of motives hidden and of endless stories that frustrate full understanding. To Chabrol, no life is ever a closed case.
- 70VarietyVarietyThis upscale talkfest, which delights in its witty banter and sly references, could be helmer's most commercial work in quite some time.
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanIt's an ostensive crime film at once symmetrical, surprising, and knowingly cinephilic.
- 67Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanDepardieu and Marie Bunel (as Bellamy's wife) have a terrific interplay, but Chabrol's sharp direction can't quite rescue his fuzzy script.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichDepardieu and Cornillac's sibling rivalry, which segues between mostly verbal smackdowns and liquored-up bursts of merriment, is beautifully observed, as is the relationship between the detective and his devoted wife (the wonderful Marie Bunel). The thriller stuff, by comparison, is just a lot of perfunctory deadweight.
- 60Boxoffice MagazineRichard MoweBoxoffice MagazineRichard MoweThat sense of mischief and pleasure in the craft makes Bellamy a thoroughly intriguing and likeable experience. From Chabrol we would expect nothing less.
- 50Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinRecently deceased master filmmaker Claude Chabrol's 50th and final feature, Inspector Bellamy, proves a sadly bland footnote to an illustrious and influential career.