Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was a Belgian writer who wrote more than 200 novels. He created the famous fictional detective Jules Maigret.
As a fan of Georges Simenon’s fiction books, I have always been curious about how these stories would be adapted to the screen.
Recently, in 2024, the French film Belle was a rather flat adaptation of Simenon’ s novel with the same name, one of his so called “romans durs” (hard novels). Benoit Jacquot directed it and Charlotte Gainsburg and Guillaume Canet were the protagonists,
There have been several adaptations, mainly for television, of novels with the detective Maigret.
Bruno Cremer was the first to portray Jules Maigret on French television. Moreover, Rowan Atkinson (very well known for the character of Mr. Bean) was a very successful Maigret for a TV series of ITV. He received praise for his nuanced performance.
I strongly believe that the best adaptation of a Simenon’s novel is Le Chat (The Cat). It is based on the 1967 novel with the same title (another “hard” novel) and Pierre Granier-Deferre directed it in 1971.
The story is about an elderly married couple, who have been loathing each other for years. They hardly talk to each other in their small house, soon to be demolished. The man gives affection only to a stray cat, which becomes the object of his wife’s anger. The story is simple, yet so realistic. Thus, you feel so close to both characters.
It is a film about loneliness and regret of lost happiness. The success of the adaptation of the novel is to a great extent attributed to the terrific performances of the two giants of the French Cinematography: Jean Gabin and Simone Signoret.
I think that both the film and the book deserve a significant place in every cinephile’s library.
0 Comments