Sunday 12 October 2014

LES PETITS MEURTRES D'AGATHA CHRISTIE: LE CRIME NE PAIE PAS (FRANCE 2)

Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie ("Agatha Christie's little murders") is a French adaptation of Agatha Christie's stories as a period crime comedy-drama 90-minute series with a trio of local sleuths instead of her detectives. 

Commissaire Laurence (Samuel Labarthe), reporter Alice Avril (Blandine Bellavoir) and Laurence's secretary Marlène (Élodie Frenck) returned this fall on pubcaster France 2 with three brand new cases: Meurtre à la kermesse, Cartes sur table and Le crime ne paie pas.

« Le poisson rouge, c'est à vous?
- Oui.
- J'ai le même à la maison. »


Le crime ne paie pas is adapted from the Hercule Poirot novel The Murder on the Links by scriptwriter Thierry Debroux, and directed by Marc Angelo. A waitress of L'Eden cabaret club sends a letter to Alice Avril at her newspaper before being murdered. But this time the reporter's unlikely partnership with Commissaire Laurence is in serious jeopardy when the obnoxious Commissaire Hubert Petipont, of the internal affairs, suspects him to be a corrupt cop.

Despaired by the situation of her beloved boss, Marlène must also endure the unsolicited attention of Hubert, who happens to be an expert on ladies' shoes and a goldfish lover. Avril is hired as a waitress at L'Eden, where she's sawed in half by the resident magician, and fulfills her dream to sing before an audience. Laurence has powerful enemies in Paris, an adventurous past and connections in the shadowy intelligence community.

« Dites-moi, c'est censé vous rendre sexy cette tenue? Un sac de pommes de terre, même avec des résilles, ça restera toujours un sac de pommes de terre.
- Un jour je vous arracherai les yeux avec une fourchette à huître. » 


Le crime ne paie pas is one of the best episodes of Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie, thanks to a brilliant script, great dialogues, excellent actors and the presence of the legendary Dominique Pinon as Hubert Petipont (who'd be perfect as Laurence's recurring nemesis). It's nice to see that Dominique Thomas, who plays Commissaire divisionnaire Tricard and reminds of the late Ronny Coutteure, has more screen time. François Godart plays Robert Jourdeuil, Alice's editor-in-chief.

« Il y a des cellules bien utiles dans une enquête. Les cellules grises, par exemple. Et apparemment, on a  pas dû vous en distribuer beaucoup à la naissance. »

Other guest actors are Spanish actress/director Laura Mañá, Nicolas Vaude, Christophe ReymondElise Louesdon, Harrison Arevalo and Renaud Rutten. Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie is produced by Sophie Révil for Escazal Films with Pictanovo, Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the participation of France Télévisions, TV5 Monde and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. The music is composed by Stéphane Moucha. Blandine Bellavoir performs Avril's songs including Melvil, the end title of the episode.

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