SIMENON SIMENON. “MR. HIRE’S ENGAGEMENT” / 4

Everybody can be a voyeur. Movie fans have a chance to watch. 

SIMENON SIMENON. “LES FIANCAILLES DE MR. HIRE” / 4 

Tout le monde peut être un voyeur. Les cinéphiles ont une opportunité de regarder. 

SIMENON SIMENON. "LE  FIDANZATE DI MR. HIRE" / 4
Chiunque può essere un voyer. I cinefili hanno un'opportunità per osservare.

Simenon’s 1933 novel spawned four movies in 1946, 1947 twice, and 1989. Routinely disappointed by films failing to follow a book, I wondered how accurate these adaptations might be. What follows is my rundown (a confession: my ‘search’ for accuracy relies on secondhand descriptions of the first three films and direct viewing of the fourth) on their success. 

The first film is Panique, a French production (a restored version of this film came out in 2016) directed by Julien Duvivier. (Panic is the title in English.) Unfortunately, judging from what I read about the film, the changes are far from faithful, causing me to not bother to track it down for viewing. 

It seems Simenon’s Mr. Hire, a petty criminal and scam artist, remains an unpopular oddball voyeur, but transforms into Dr. Varga, an astrologer, spiritual adviser, and amateur photographer. A murder suspect, he falls hopelessly in love with the girl next door he has been spying on all along. She herself is hopelessly controlled by her lover, and with him playing a vastly expanded role in contrast to the novel, they engineer a scheme to frame Varga. Duvivier distorts Simenon’s story with a traveling carnival background, interpersonal bumper car collisions, photo shoots of a hungry dog and a homeless man by the protagonist, a funeral procession for the murdered woman, listening to hymns in and lovemaking behind a church, a revelatory fortune teller, a bloodthirsty butcher, expanded crowd scenes including mob violence, and a different cause of death for the scapegoat. 

The second and third films are Barrio and Viela, Rua Sem Sol, both productions directed by Ladislao Vajda. They came out almost simultaneously as so-called “double versions” in that the two films had the same script, but the actors were different, being Spanish in Barrio and Portuguese in Viela—a singular exception being Milú who plays Alice in both. Because they go even farther astray from the Simenon story than Panique, I did not try to find them to watch. First, they focus in error on the homicide detective and the criminal-girlfriend pair that teams up to frame her shy neighbor (Simenon’s protagonist). In other switches, the cop sets a successful trap for the killer, and the good-hearted girl elopes with her silent admirer. 

The fourth film is Monsieur Hire, a French production directed by Patrice Leconte. When I learned the film “sticks closer to the letter of the novel,” I figured it would be worth viewing. Unfortunately, this film fails much like the others, for it introduces numerous new and frankly bizarre elements into Simenon’s old story: Hire keeps white rats that get special burials. He patronizes a naked black masseuse and an electric tattoo artist. Alice spills tomatoes at Hire’s door in a weird ploy to achieve direct contact with the timid voyeur. Her evil lover and a single detective play prominent invented roles in their respective framing and pursuing of the innocent murder suspect. The three in the ‘love triangle’ interact at a boxing match. They also go ice-skating until the ‘fall guy’ literally falls on his face. To be fair, the film does get the names right; does show Hire doing his peeping (but the emphasis is more on his loving); and does portray the bowling, crowd, and rooftop scenes from the book. Yet, emblematic of its failure in accuracy is the voyeur lying on the ground at the end. He is not Simenon’s “dead man whose eyes had just been closed,” but rather Leconte’s dead man with his eyes wide open. 

David P Simmons 

SIMENON SIMENON. NOUVEAU PORTRAIT DE MAIGRET 

Maigret vu par les autres; critiques littéraires et essayistes 

En réalité, ce n'est pas dans les comptes-rendus du lendemain du Bal anthropométrique qu'il faut chercher les premières descriptions de Maigret, car, alors, c'est surtout de Simenon lui-même que parlaient les échotiers… Il faut attendre que les responsables de la rubrique littéraire des journaux aient eu le temps de lire les deux premiers ouvrages publiés par Fayard. Ainsi, le premier texte dont nous avons trouvé la trace date de la fin mars 1931, et c'est un certain Auguste Bailly qui signe un article dans l'hebdomadaire Ric et Rac. Après avoir noté ce qui différence Maigret de Sherlock Holmes et d'Arsène Lupin, il écrit ceci à propos du commissaire: "un gros homme, vigoureux de muscles, et d'esprit curieux, qui aime son métier, mais qui n'est pas doué de facultés exceptionnelles. Il ne devine pas, il ne procède pas par illuminations. Tout au contraire, sa méthode, sans qu'il s'en doute peut-être, est remarquablement cartésienne, c'est-à-dire minutieuse et logique. […] Il veut savoir où il en est, et il affermit ses pas sur le sol avant de se risquer au-delà." 

SIMENON SIMENON. NUOVO RITRATTO DI MAIGRET 

Maigret visto da altri; critici e saggisti letterari 

In realtà, non è nei resoconti dell’indomani del Bal anthropométrique che bisogna cercare le prime descrizioni di Maigret, perché, allora è soprattutto di Simenon stesso che parlavano i cronisti… Bisogna attendere che i responsabili delle rubriche letterarie dei giornali abbiano avuto il tempo di leggere le prime due opere pubblicate da Fayard. Così il primo testo di cui abbiamo traccia, data la fine di marzo del 1931, ed è di un certo Auguste Bailly che firma un articolo nel settimanale Ric et Rac. Dopo aver notato quello che distingue Maigret da Sherlock Holmes e da Arsène Lupin, scrive questo a proposito del commissario: «un grosso uomo, dai muscoli vigorosi, con uno spirito curioso, che ama il suo mestiere, ma che non è dotato di facoltà eccezionali. Non indovina, non procede per illuminazioni. Tutto al contrario, il suo metodo, senza forse esserne consapevole, é rigorosamente cartesiano, vale a dire minuzioso e logico. […] Vuole sapere dove si trova e prova i suoi passi sul suolo prima di arrischiarsi più in là».  

 SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET'S NEW PORTRAIT 

Maigret seen by others; literary critics and essayists 

In fact, you wouldn't find Maigret's first descriptions in the reports written the day after the Anthropometric Ball, because at that time the columnists spoke mostly about Simenon… You had to wait till the persons in charge of the literary section of newspapers had had time to read the first novels published by Fayard. Thus the first text to be found was written at the end of March 1931, by Auguste Bailly, for the weekly newspaper Ric et Rac. He noted the differences between Maigret and Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin, and he wrote this about the Chief Inspector: "a fat man, with strong muscles and a curious mind, who likes his job, but who is not endowed with exceptional abilities. He doesn't guess, he doesn’t proceed by illuminations. On the contrary, his method, without perhaps being aware of it, is remarkably Cartesian, that is to say meticulous and logical. […] He wants to know where he is, and he strengthens his steps on the ground before venturing further."  

by Simenon Simenon