Mike Goodridge in Berlin
Dir: Claude Chabrol. France . 2009. 110mins.
Nothing is as it seems in Claude Chabrol's 58th film Bellamy, a playful dramatic murder mystery offering Gerard Depardieu one of his more sympathetic roles as a celebrated Paris inspector embroiled in an investigation while on holiday in Nimes . Intriguing both as a portrait of a family at odds and as a thriller, the film is as leisurely as Chabrol can get, paced with a langor befitting its sunny Provence locations, and it will be as appealing to the older arthouse crowd who might watch Morse or Murder She Wrote as French cinema aficionados.
Chabrol's regular distributors should score stronger numbers than his last few, less warm films – A Girl Cut In Two, L'Ivresse Du Pouvoir, La Demoiselle D'Honneur – and there's even some franchise mileage in Inspector Bellamy should Chabrol or Depardieu so wish.
Police chief Paul Bellamy and his wife Francoise (Bunel) are holidaying at her family's house in Nimes. While he restlessly longs to get back to his casework, she dreams of a cruise on the Nile but knows that he hates to travel. But Bellamy isn't quiet for long, as he answers the pleas of a mysterious stranger to visit him at his motel. Noel Gentil (Gamblin) says that he has caused a man's death but is not as guilty as he looks.
Gentil has recently had plastic surgery to disguise his appearance but was formerly Emile Leullet who had been cheating on his wife with a masseuse. He and his mistress, he says, had planned to kill a homeless man (also played by Gamblin), pass him off as Leullet and claim the insurance money. But, he pleads with Bellamy, the plan didn't come to fruition, yet the homeless man is still dead.
While keeping his investigations secret from the local police, Bellamy noses around Leullet's affairs to try to prove his story. Meanwhile his troubled younger half-brother Jacques (Cornillac) arrives for a visit, causing Bellamy untold anguish. Jacques has no job, is an alcoholic, gambler and thief and the opposite of Bellamy. But, as a WH Auden poem at the film's end reminds us, what appears one way can often be something entirely different.
As the two stories unfold side by side, Chabrol finds time for plenty of humour, not a little absurdity (a trial lawyer breaking into a Georges Brassens song is particularly wry) and doffs of the cap to Night Of The Hunter and Agatha Christie. He even seamlessly introduces a cheerful gay couple into the fabric of the narrative, whose house is garishly decorated with phallic symbols.
Depardieu gives his most pleasing performance in some years and the two veterans work well together for the first time. Chabrol, who made first film Le Beau Serge 50 years ago, is one of that rare breed of film-makers (Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood included) whose vast output has given them an elegance in their mise-en-scene which makes their films watchable even if they are prone to longueur.
Production companies
Aliceleo Cinema
France 2 Cinema
DD Productions
Producer
Patrick Godeau
Screenplay
Odile Barski
Claude Chabrol
Cinematography
Eduardo Serra
Production design
Francoise Benoit-Fresco
Editor
Monique Fardoulis
Music
Matthieu Chabrol
Main cast
Gerard Depardieu
Clovis Cornillac
Jacques Gamblin
Marie Bunel
-------------------------------------------------------------
(France) A TF1 Distribution release of an Aliceleo Cinema presentation of an Aliceleo Cinema, France 2 Cinema, DD Prods. production. (International sales: TF1 Intl., Paris.) Produced by Patrick Godeau. Executive producer, Francoise Galfre. Directed by Claude Chabrol. Screenplay, Odile Barski, Chabrol.
With: Gerard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac, Jacques Gamblin, Marie Bunel, Vahina Giocante, Marie Matheron, Adrienne Pauly, Yves Verhoeven, Bruno Abraham-Kremer, Rodolphe Pauly.
A portly police inspector on a holiday can’t keep from privately investigating a possible murder in the old-fashioned but thoroughly likeable “Bellamy,” Claude Chabrol’s homage to Georges Simenon that marks his first collaboration with Gallic acting colossus Gerard Depardieu. This upscale talkfest that delights in its witty banter and sly references could be helmer’s most commercial work in quite some time, especially if pic is tightened by a good 10 minutes. Older Francophiles will be lining up around the block.
Paul Bellamy (Depardieu) is clearly modeled on Jules Maigret, the police investigator created by Simenon in 1931 and the protag of more than 100 novels and stories. Fans of Maigret will recognize how Chabrol toys with established conventions; Bellamy smokes cigars instead of Maigret’s pipe, but his rock-solid relationship with his wife Francoise (Marie Bunel) is a reliable constant, as is his infallible instinct.
The late French crooner Georges Brassens, the second Georges to which pic is dedicated, is also niftily tied into the plot.
In Nimes, southern France, a report about an insurance scam piques Paul’s interest. Being a famous police inspector with a bestselling memoirs to his name, Paul doesn’t even need to go out in search of a lead: Noel Gentil (Jacques Gamblin) has been trampling Paul’s flower beds for a couple of days when pic opens. He gives Paul a picture of a man who looks suspiciously like himself and confesses he “sort of killed him.”
Bellamy can’t help but investigate the case privately, with Chabrol making a point of the incompetence of local police inspector Leblanc, who stays duly offscreen despite bedding one of the sexy suspects (Vahina Giocante).
The crime story, with its twists and turns, is neatly resolved but is only an excuse to delve into the world of Bellamy, a man who loves his wife unconditionally but who has a love-hate relationship with his drunkard brother (Clovis Cornillac), and who finds his work a lot more interesting than socializing with the town’s gay dentist (Yves Verhoeven, as pic’s most cliched character) or going on a holiday somewhere far off. Indeed, it would not be much of a stretch to see in Paul Bellamy some characteristics of the workaholic helmer himself.
Since Chabrol created the title role specifically for Depardieu, it fits him like a glove and Cornillac here proves that he also holds his own opposite Depardieu in a less cartoonish register than “Asterix at the Olympic Games.” Some of pic’s wittiest banter comes from their sibling rivalry.
Other perfs, including Gamblin in a triple role and an assortment of jolie provincial girls are fine, but the film’s truly sensual presence is Bunel as Mrs. Bellamy. The way Chabrol paints their loving relationship is one of pic’s nicest touches.
Production design and lensing are in keeping with the generally unpretentious atmosphere and helmer’s previous work. At 110 minutes, pic driven by men sitting around talking and ladies being pretty does outstay its welcome, and a slight tightening would give its commercial prospects abroad a leg up.
Camera (color), Eduardo Serra; editor, Monique Fardoulis; music, Matthieu Chabrol; production designer, Francoise Benolt-Fresco; costume designer, Mic Cheminal; sound (Dolby SRD), Eric Devulder, assistant director, Cecile Maistre. Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale Special), Feb. 7, 2009. Running time: 110 MIN
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario