Maigret sets a trap - 2016

I really liked it but I admit it was really hard to see Atkinson is such a dramatic role, 100% serious without even the hint of a joke. It’s not just that I’m not used to it, it’s the fact that the man has been so much identified with his character Mr Bean that he basically ‘is’ Mr Bean.. I know he’s not, mind you, but I’m saying that he’s very much identified with it. I have seen him doing other things other than Mr Bean of course, and he was always a good actor, but in each role there was from time to time at least a little bit of comedy, of irony... and so against my will I kept expecting him to make a face or something, knowing very well that it wouldn’t happen of course.  It was rather hard to concentrate on him being Maigret.. and this is unfair because he did a very good job. I’m sure it’ll become easier with more Maigret films, because I liked it and want to see more.
This story sees a serial killer in Paris, women walking alone in Montmartre are in danger; five have been killed already and the police have no clue whatsoever. The media and the people blame Maigret for not having solved the case yet. They keep saying, even to his face, that the police don’t do their job, and when he tries to explain that they are working on it, they add “then why haven’t you caught him?” ...
Desperate to find some clue Maigret sets a trap: he calls for volunteer female officers to work as baits, basically trying to act normal while also trying to put themselves in a position to be targeted. He asks for female officers trained in self-defence, and promises them that they won’t let anything happen to them. They walk the streets of Montmartre until one girl is actually attacked. Unlike those poor women she was kind of expecting it and although she was surprised from behind she tried to fight him and she screamed. Policemen arrived and tried to chase after him, but they lost him. She’s well enough, and Maigret finally has something to work on; she didn’t see him well and she doesn’t remember much, but she can tell him something and she even tore a button off the guy’s jacket.. it may not seem much, but it’s still a lot more than he had before. From the cloth and the button they get a list of those who bought it. Lapointe thinks he found the right one, everything seems right, and they go to his house. They have no proof against this Marcel, but Maigret is sure that it’s him, and he keeps him in jail. When another girl is murdered, Maigret has no doubt that either Marcel’s wife or mother did it to protect him, because they keep smothering him, they are overwhelming, and of course he was right. 
Maigret warns Marcel of what one of them has done in order to free him and be able to suffocate him some more, and then the mother confesses in front of Marcel’s cell, declaring that she’d do anything for him, but she can’t describe the girl’s dress. With some pride the wife answers that question to prove to Marcel that she did it for him, but he tells her what he had already told his mother “I killed them because I hate you”. Couldn’t he find the courage to say that earlier so that six women would still be alive? Tsk, pathetic little man.
Maigret-Rowan Atkinson
Lapointe-Leo Staar
Janvier-Shaun Dingwall
Maigret’s wife-Lucy Cohu
Marcel Moncin-David Dawson

ITA la trappola di Maigret