Maigret et la fenêtre ouverte

Why did the filmmakers choose to base one of the episodes on this Simenon short story? It's about 10 pages long, includes no interesting characters, and reads more like an outline of what was to be a friendly spoof of an Agatha Christie mystery. The short story's denouement includes lots of complicated mechanizations. Did the scriptwriters see a chance to flesh out a story and make improvements to the original Simenon short story? Sad to say, the film is no better.

A businessman is killed in his office and that office has very limited access. There are people waiting in the outer office to meet with him (including a police inspector), a secretary/clerk, and the businessman's wife. One thing I'll give the film: they did develop the characters a bit when compared to the nameless people in the short story, but other than that it's a story of Maigret plodding along waiting for something to happen, someone to crack, someone to say the wrong thing. And while he waits, we wait . . . And wait . . . And wait. And then the ending comes and it's quite unconvincing.

I'm a huge fan of this series and of Simenon's Maigret mysteries. But this episode is not a good one, and in fact may be the worst of all 54 episodes. We'll see.

The presently 3 other reviews have outlined the plot, especially Whalen, who as usual has a pretty accurate summary.

A dodgy businessman has upset masses of investors and clients, over many years, readily goes bankrupt if necessary, then springs back up.

Assorted folk with a grudge and motive are assembled one afternoon, just in case he deigns to see them when he awakes from his usual afternoon nap (2 to 3pm) - except this time he doesn't. They are in a downstairs waiting room, and cannot access the office, his much younger wife is asleep also upstairs. But they collectively hear a shot.

Maigret doubts the more obvious suicide conclusion, even though the magistrate (French law has one of those at the head of investigations) thinks it's more convenient. Why would he have bought tickets for Mexico if he was planning suicide?! Then forensic tests show the victim had no gunpowder residue on his hands -- not him then!

And Maigret has nagging doubts about an open window, does it have any part in the problem?

As Whalen says, it's all derived from a short story, and doubtless the film does pad out the characters rather more, but in fact only 3 of them could have been the murderer, with Maigret gradually homing in on the guilty party. One oddity is that a key character is played by the same actor as had a key role (Inspector Cadavre) in an episode not that long ago! But the whole thing is one of their lesser efforts, hence my low mark for it.

So close that open window!

Businessman Oscar Laget is murdered in his office. The only other people in the building are accounted for in the waiting room downstairs. Maigret is called in and confines them all at the crime scene and waits to see who will crack first.

This is a claustrophilic little story, with its action confined to the office building and the courtyard just outside. This serves to highlight the stresses the characters experience. Maigret calls it "an English-style whodunit, like Agatha Christie." On a thoroughly trivial note, the characters call World War I "la guerre quatorze-dix-huit," meaning "the war of (19)14-(19)18" and the World War II "la guerre quarante," meaning "The War of (19)40."