Monday 24 September 2018

CAPITAINE MARLEAU: DOUBLE JEU (FRANCE 3)

Capitaine Marleau (Corinne Masiero) is called by an ex-colleague because of a corpse found off the coast. The dead woman, Bénédicte Dalvet, is a perfect lookalike of Marleau

Bénedicte was the captain's twin sister but the detective didn't even know her existence. Marleau decides to impersonate her in order to investigate.

The bottom line: And Now for Something Completely Different.

Double jeu is a first for France 3's ratings juggernaut crime drama Capitaine Marleau. Written by series creator Elsa Marpeau, the episode is based on the novel Le sosie de la morgue by Claude Luxel (pseudonym of Lucien Riffard). Published in 1935, the book was adapted for the first time in 1949 as Entre onze heures et minuit. This  film, directed by Henri Decoin, was written by Marcel Rivet and Decoin with Henri Jeanson. Louis Jouvet portrayed a Parisian cop, Commissaire Carrel, who takes advantage of his striking resemblance with a murdered mobster to investigate as the victim. Madeleine Robinson played the mobster's mistress. 

Director Josée Dayan, who helms and co-produces Capitaine Marleau (with her company Passionfilms), wanted to film her own adaptation of Le sosie de la morgue in 2015 with Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant but the movie wasn't made. The same year, Depardieu became the special guest star of Capitaine Marleau: Philippe Muir (the series pilot). Regrettably, Double jeu is both an unsatisfactory substitute to Josée Dayan's film project and a rather odd departure from the format of Capitaine Marleau. Not unlike when Columbo, one of the inspirations of Marleau, tried to adapt a couple of Ed McBain books with unfortunate results.

Marleau clumsily goes undercover amongst the family and professional entourage of Bénédicte Dalvet in a plot where France's favourite detective and her origin story feel shoehorned. Pierre-François Martin-Laval's performance as Paul Dalvet is quite touching. Producer and former talent agent Dominique Besnehard drops by as a private investigator. Jacky Berroyer plays Dr. Aboumehri and French singer Pierre Perret appears as Mr. Pellisson, a character linked to Marleau's past. Fans' favourites Aymeric Demarigny (Brière, the captain's most popular deputy) and Jean-Claude Drouot (Pathologist Léopold Salaun) are back.

Also with Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (Gabriel Dalvet), Christopher Thompson (Charles Castillon), Michel Hermon (Jean-Philippe Dalvet), Émilie Chesnais (Laurence Dalvet), Dinara Droukarova (Lou Antelme), Julia Duchaussoy (Marie), etc. Co-produced by Gaspard de Chavagnac for Gaspard & Co. François Bennaceur is the associate producer. Produced with France Télévisions and Radio Télévision Suisse. Filmed between November and December 2017 on l'Ile de Ré with the support of Département de la Charente-Maritime and Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Music by Catherine Lara and Cyrille Lehn. Cinematography by Stefan Ivanov. Editing by Yves Langlois.

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