Thursday 17 October 2024

BEYOND THE GRAVE - A NEW ADAMSBERG'S CASE/SUR LA DALLE (FRANCE 2, 2024)

Commissaire Adamsberg is back on pubcaster France 2 after a five-year break to investigate in an uneven 2 x 90-minute TV movie.
 
Sur la dalle will be shown by the channel on October 21 and October 28, 2024.     

Created by best-selling French crime writer Fred Vargas (nom de plume of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau), the contemplative and melancolic Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is the main character of several books published between 1991 and 2023. This unorthodox detective is usually surrounded by a colourful team comprised of the erudite Commandant Adrien Danglard, computer expert Lieutenant Froissy, Lieutenant Voisenet (an amateur ichthyologist), Lieutenant Louis Veyrenc, Brigadier Estalère, Mordent, Mercadet, Noël and the colossal "polyvalent goddess" of the brigade criminelle: Lieutenant Violette Retancourt.

Pars vite et reviens tard (Have Mercy on Us All, 2001), the third Commissaire Adamsberg mystery, became a Régis Wargnier feature film in 2006 with José Garcia as the commissaire. In 2008, director and producer Josée Dayan (Les rois maudits, Les misérables, Le comte de Monte Cristo) launched her Collection Fred Vargas for France 2 with Sous les vents de Neptune. Author, scriptwriter and director Emmanuel Carrère penned this 2 x 90-minute adaptation of the fourth Adamsberg novel (Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand, 2004) starring Jean-Hughes Anglade (Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg), Jacques Spiesser (Magellan) as Danglard, Hélène Fillières (Camille Forestier), Myriam Boyer (Clémentine), Jeanne Moreau, Corinne Masiero (Retancourt), etc.

Sous les vents de Neptune was followed by L'homme aux cercles bleus (The Chalk Circle Man, Adamsberg #1) and L'homme à l'envers (Seeking Whom He May Devour, Adamsberg #2) in 2009 and Un lieu incertain (An Uncertain Place, Adamsberg #6) in 2010, three 90-minute made-for-TV movies. Nine years later, Jean-Hughes Anglade returned as Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg in Quand sort la recluse (1), a 2 x 90-minute television film helmed by Josée Dayan and written by Emmanuel Carrère. Published in France during Spring 2023, Sur la dalle is the tenth Adamsberg book by Fred Vargas. Filmed between February and March 2024 under the direction of Josée Dayan, the adaptation was written once again by Emmanuel Carrère. Except that this time the character is portrayed by Yvan Attal (Munich, Anthony Zimmer).

Adamsberg receives a text message from Commissaire Franck Mathieu, a colleague from Brittany whom he worked with two years ago. Mathieu tells him that Gaël, a gamekeeper,  has been murdered. Despite the objections of Retancourt, Jean-Baptiste cannot resist going to the Breton village of Louviec to learn more. Danglard, Froissy and newcomer Sabine Natoutruc join Adamsberg on the case. The main suspect is a descendant and lookalike of François-René de Chateaubriand paid to promote the famous author's Château de Combourg. Soon another murder is committed and the mystery grows in an investigation involving a limping ghost, a hunchback, fleas, shadows, dead cats and a serial killer.

The choice of Yvan Attal as the new Adamsberg is rather smart. Danglard is now played by Louis-Do de Lenquesaing and Sylvie Testud returns as Froissy. Since Un lieu incertain, Corinne Masiero became the star of the hit crime drama Capitaine Marleau (2015), produced and directed by Josée Dayan. The actress leaves Sur la dalle after 30 minutes under the pretext that Retancourt doesn't like Chateaubriand. Virginie Ledoyen plays Sabine, her de facto substitute though Violette is irreplacable. The first part of Sur la dalle drowns itself in some of the dialogues. Thankfully things get better with the second part of this "new Adamsberg's case". Set in a timeless Brittany, Sur la dalle has the feel of a Midsomer Murders episode.

Comedian and actor Olivier De Benoist is Commissaire Mathieu. The great character actor Philippe du Janerand (Nikita) plays Maël. Also with Eric Caravaca (Robic), Micha Lescot (Josselin), Vincent Deniard (Johan), François Bureloup (Uranus), Riwan Belkacemi (Louis), Claire Nebout (Marie Serpentin), etc. No La Boule, the  big cat who lives on the photocopier in Adamsberg's brigade, but a hedgehog (credited as Le hérisson) "played" by... Pompon. Co-produced by Passionfilms and Gaspard & Co with France Télévisions and the participation of TV5 Monde. Produced by Josée Dayan and Gaspard de Chavagnac. The superb music was composed by Reno Isaac. Cinematography by Ramin Poursaid. Editing by Yves Langlois, assisted by Florence Leconte. Distributed by France tv Distribution.

(1) Quand sort la recluse is based on the ninth Adamsberg mystery (This Poison Will Remain, 2017).

See also: 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2019/04/collection-fred-vargas-quand-sort-la.html

Friday 20 September 2024

ALLMEN UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DES KOI (DAS ERSTE)

The vacations of the dandy art detective Allmen turn into business as usual (i.e. troubles) when he must find a stolen Koi fish.

The flamboyant Johann Friedrich von Allmen and his loyal though sarcastic Guatemalan valet Carlos first appeared in Allmen and the Dragonflies (Allmen und die Libellen, 2011), a novel written by bestselling Swiss author Martin Suter and followed by five more books. Four Allmen TV movies based on the novels were aired by pubcaster Das Erste between 2017 and 2021: Allmen und das Geheimnis der Libellen, Allmen und das Geheimnis des rosa Diamanten, Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien and Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik. Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi, the fifth one, was filmed in 2023 and shown last month in Germany and Austria.

Those movies star Heino Ferch (Nordholm, Anatomy of Evil) as Johann Friedrich von Allmen and Samuel Finzi (Flemming) as Carlos. Andrea Osvárt (Tranporter: The Series) plays Joelle "Jojo" Hirt, the daughter of one of the richest men in Switzerland and Allmen's love interest. From the second film, Isabella Parkinson joined the cast as Carlos' Colombian girlfriend Maria Moreno. Adapted by scriptwriter Martin Rauhaus (Hotel Heidelberg) from the book Allmen und der Koi, Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi is directed by Sinje Köhler. Far from his money issues and the attention of the Zurich tax office, Allmen is on holiday in Tenerife with Jojo and Carlos.
 
Film mogul Steve Garrett uses music producer Freddie Turnbill, a friend of Johann, to get the services of the detective but not for a missing work of art. He wants him to find "Boy", his $1,5 million Japanese Koi fish which vanished from the pond in his garden. Garrett won't take a no for an answer so he forces Johann to accept. Garrett's girlfriend Dr. Akina de la Vega happens to be a Koi expert, author of a book called Miracle of the Koi. Allmen meets English photographer Helen Lifehouse and Italian gangster Vittorio Giunninazzi. Freddie is murdered and Jojo decides to investigate too. No Prague doubling as Zurich this time but the beautiful scenery of Tenerife, which suits our quatuor very well.
 
The excellent cast also includes Uwe Kockisch (Donna Leon) as Steve Garrett, Falilou Seck (Freddie), Alejandro Barrios (Bajrush), Edita Malovčić (Dr. Akina de la Vega), Jörg Witte (Vale), Michaela Rosen (Helen Lifehouse), David Lifschitz (Der König von Palma) as Vittorio Giunninazzi, etc. Produced by UFA Fiction  (a Fremantle company) with SunnySideUp Productions (Balko Teneriffa) for ARD Degeto and Das Erste. Produced by Alena Gößling and Sinah Swyter. Karsten Kilian and Bettina Höfke are the production managers. Holger Krenz is the line producer. Music by Fabian Römer and Mathias Hillebrand-Gonzalez. Thomas Franz is the production designer. Cinematography by Frank Küpper. Editing by David Kuruc.
 
Production services in Spain by Rolf Wappenschmitt (SunnySideUp), carried out in the Canary Islands. Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi has benefited from the Spanish Tax Rebate in collaboration with the Spanish Government and the Tenerife Film Commission. We're not finished with the adventures of Johann Friedrich von Allmen, Carlos and their lady friends because there's a seventh Allmen book called Allmen und Herr Weynfeldt, released in March 2024. This "Herr Weynfeldt" is in fact Adrian Weynfeldt, the main character of Martin Suter's novel Der letzte Weynfeldt (2008).
 

Monday 16 September 2024

MONSIEUR PARIZOT (TF1)

Christian Parizot (Patrick Paroux) is the most popular character of French private channel TF1's hit Camping Paradis. Now the camper becomes an amateur sleuth in Monsieur Parizot.
 
This 2 x 45-minute pilot is a welcome addition to TF1's crime/comedy line-up.
 
The bottom line: Les petits meurtres de Monsieur Parizot.
 
Aired since 2006, Camping Paradis is produced by Jean Luc Azoulay's JLA Productions with TF1. This comedy series was created by Michel Alexandre, Ludovic Pion-Dumas & Anne Badel. It is centered on the everyday life and problems of Tom Delormes (Laurent Ournac), who runs a campsite in the south of France, and his team. The extraordinary Patrick Paroux (Around the world in 80 days, Amelie) plays the grouchy Christian Parizot, the most faithful client of the Camping Paradis where he has been going every summer for 35 years. Parizot first appeared in the fourth episode, written by Jérôme Michaud-Larivière and Thomas Perrier, as "M. Parizot".
 
Monsieur Parizot takes Patrick Paroux to Colmar, where Christian Parizot lives. This retiree divides his time between watching detective dramas with the eye of an expert (he read all Agatha Christie three times!) and amateur cycling, his great passion. One day, his cycling companion dies in an apparent accident before joining him. Christian immediately notices very specific details that make him suspect a murder. Lieutenant Alexandra Bauer, of the Gendarmerie, decides to investigate against her hierarchy. As the wealthy family of his friend wants to meet Parizot, Bauer prompts him to accept the invitation.

« Non mais dites donc, j'suis pas à vos ordres! Qu'est-ce que j'irais faire au milieu d'un panier de crabes de nobles alsaciens? »

Directed by Camping Paradis' regular helmer Nicolas Copin, Monsieur Parizot was penned by Laurent Mondy. Frequent writer of Camping Paradis, the latter is the creator of another production from JLA: Magellan (Commissaire Magellan, 2009-2021). Parizot watches an episode of the much-missed mystery drama (1) written by Mondy and complains about "ces tocards de scénaristes"... right before jumping into the tropes of Commissaire Magellan. It's quite enjoyable to watch Patrick Paroux as a comedy Poirot version of the beloved Camping Paradis character. Parizot drives an old Peugeot 405 and wears plaid sweaters over his famous floral shirts. He likes to ride his bike or smoke a pipe to think things through.
 
Of course, there are charming references to Camping Paradis. Lieutenant Bauer, Parizot's "Watson", is played by Clémence Lassalas (Demain nous appartient). Philippe Caroit (Perfect Murders, Borderland) guest stars as Jean-Dominique de Saint-Ulrich. The other actors of this "petit meurtre en famille" are Carole Richert (Astrid de Saint Ulrich), Firmine Richard (Josiane Kopp), Olivier Sitruk (Sainclair Vandeuil), Piérick Tournier (Vianney de Saint Ulrich), Sören Prévost (Hans), Diane Dassigny (Plus belle la vie, encore plus belle) as Faustine de Saint Ulrich, Charlie Joirkin (Jennifer Maillard), Charlotte Lacoste (Camille de Saint Ulrich), Bruno Dreyfürst (Captain Brunet) and Houaria Kaidari (Maître Klein).
 
Produced by JLA Productions and TF1 with the participation of RTL-TVI and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Made with the support of Région Grand Est, Colmar Agglomération (Réseau Plato) and Bureau des images Grand Est. Olivier Guedj exec produces. Produced by Richard Berkowitz and Mathieu Delarive. Emmanuel Libermann is the production manager. Music by Frédéric Porte (Camping Paradis, Magellan). Cinematography by Olivier Guarguir. Editing by Jean-Luc Thomas. Filmed between November and December 2023 in Alsace, Monsieur Parizot aired in Switzerland and Belgium this month but not yet in France.

(1) Première Ballerine, directed by Étienne Dhaene.