SIMENON SIMENON. GINO CERVI IN MAIGRET’S SKIN

Why was the Italian actor so much successful in interpreting the Chief Inspector 

SIMENON SIMENON. GINO CERVI NELLE PANNI DI MAIGRET 

Perché l'attore italiano ha avuto così tanto successo nell'interpretazione del commissario

SIMENON SIMENON. GINO CERVI DANS LA PEAU DE MAIGRET 

Pourquoi l’acteur italien a eu autant de succès dans l’interprétation du commissaire

 

In Italy Maigret has the face of Gino Cervi. At least for those who for age reasons could have watched the series produced by the RAI (Italian television) between the mid 60s and the first 70s. Some could have seen the series re-aired later on, and also various editions in videotape and DVD released by the RAI or other publishers, which encountered notorious success. 

Basing upon a 1985 interview by Giulio Nascimebeni, it has been often said that Simenon had claimed that Cervi was the Maigret he preferred. This is not proved. Elsewhere the novelist claimed that the English Rupert Davies was the best non French interpreter. In reality Simenon was not interested in the television adaptation of Maigret’s investigations, nor in the cinematographic productions adapted from his novels. He was not at all satisfied with what he could see, because it was something about what he had created and then someone else dealt with it, more or less arbitrarily, modifying it to his taste and liking. 

Cervi was a good theatre actor; he worked in Pirandello’s Compagnia del Teatro d’Arte. He was also a great cinema actor (he acted in about 120 movies), but before becoming Maigret, he had a handicap because he had been the famous communist mayor Peppone in the cinema series Don Camillo with Fernandel. Those films were very popular in Italy and in France too, and for the public Cervi was identified with Peppone, a grumpy country man, sanguine, not very well educated. 

In the mid 60s television had started to be a medium in strong competition, and often a winning one, with radio, cinema and theatre. There were millions of TV viewers. Cervi embarked in this adventure, even if not with few guaranties. The director was Mario Landi, the screenplay was made by Diego Fabbri and the delegate at the RAI production was a then unknown Andrea Camilleri. 

The series was immediately a big success and with these episodes Cervi almost managed to make himself forget as Peppone, and he was then identified with Chief Inspector Maigret in the collective imagination of millions and millions of Italians. At the point that Mondadori, which published in exclusivity the Maigret novels, commissioned Ferenc Pinter, a great designer, for the book covers, which had Cervi’s features. Televisions sets were installed in the movies rooms when the RAI was broadcasting the Maigret series, so not to loose public in the evenings when peaks of eighteen million spectators were reached. 

Why did Cervi get so much success in playing Maigret? Of course we have to mention the actor’s consummate skill, the precise direction, the excellent screenplay and the cast of level actors, almost all from theatrical origin. But there are also other reasons. That is to say some analogies between the character Maigret and the man Gino Cervi. Maigret was born in Saint-Fiacre, a village in the Allier, and young Maigret grew up with outspoken values and simple habits of those that lived at the time in the country side and in contact with nature. Cervi was born in Bologna, but he still had some relationship with countryside and genuine values. Maigret had to stop studying because of necessity and Cervi because he wanted to follow his theatrical passion. In their twenties both began to work, Maigret in the police and Cervi in the theatre. Both had the tendency of being good eaters and drinkers. Yet Cervi was not a pipe smoker before he began to play Maigret; but his way to smoke the pipe appeared very natural, thanks to his talent as an actor. 

All this had allowed Cervi to easily enter into Maigret’s character, and he was also helped by a certain confidence with France, since he had worked in many French cinematographic productions and he had made theatrical tours in the country. Moreover his massive figure was physically a mirror of Maigret’s.  

Almost forty years after the broadcasting of the last episodes, the DVDs of the series are still successful. Thus we can see that Cervi’s Maigret has become a television classic. 

By Simenon-Simenon 

SIMENON SIMENON. UN CHARRETIER AU CINEMA ?

Mystère à propos d’une adaptation jamais tournée 

SIMENON SIMENON. UN CARRETTIERE AL CINEMA? 

Mistero su un adattamento mai stato girato

SIMENON SIMENON. A CARTER AT THE CINEMA? 

Mystery about an adaptation never shot 

Le 21 avril 1932 avait lieu la première du film La Nuit du carrefour. Nous en avons déjà parlé il y a longtemps (http://www.simenon-simenon.com/2016/04/simenon-simenon-21-avril-1932-premiere.htm), et ce ne sera donc pas le sujet d’aujourd’hui, mais cela va nous permettre d’introduire le thème de ce billet, un thème cinématographique lui aussi. 

Deux jours avant cette première, le journal Paris-Midi proposait une interview de Simenon, dans lequel le romancier affirmait péremptoirement qu’il avait décidé de se faire lui-même le metteur en scène de ses œuvres. Avec le culot dont il savait parfois faire montre, il expliquait : « Vous savez que La Nuit du carrefour […] et Le Chien jaune ont eu pour metteurs en scène M. Jean Renoir et M. Jean Tarride. Je n’ai eu qu’à me louer de leur excellente réalisation, mais à les voir travailler, l’envie m’est venue d’essayer ce que vaut l’auteur lui-même, quand au lieu de papier et d’encre, il doit se « réaliser » avec des personnages vivants et des décors à trois dimensions. » 

Le journaliste lui demanda alors sur quel roman il avait choisi de travailler, et Simenon lui donna deux titres. Le premier était La Tête d’un homme, qu’il déclarait vouloir mettre en scène lui-même, et pour lequel il fournit un luxe de détails : « La Tête d’un homme a pour cadre, vous le savez, le Montparnasse de 1926 – le vrai Montparnasse […] celui de la Coupole et des cafés […] Je tâche de montrer ce cadre tel qu’il est, « nature », les rôles seront du reste tenus par des personnages authentiques : par exemple, Bob de la Coupole sera… Bob le barman, Bob en chair et en os. » Simenon affirmait aussi que le rôle de Maigret serait tenu par Pierre Renoir, et, rappelant que Abel Tarride avait eu le rôle dans Le Chien jaune, il ajoutait que les deux acteurs « deux incarnations différentes, mais toutes deux excellentes du commissaire, permettront à ces braves lecteurs de sérier leurs préférences. Quant à l’avenir, le sort en est jeté : Maigret restera lui-même, autrement dit, Pierre Renoir. » Et l’interview se concluait par ces mots de Simenon : « Que voulez-vous, seul l’auteur est juge de la façon dont il faut réincarner son roman… Un roman policier tout autant, si ce n’est plus qu’un autre ! » 

On sait ce qu’il en advint : malgré le travail sur le scénario que mena Simenon avec le futur interprète de Radek, mille difficultés et la mésentente avec les producteurs eurent raison de toutes ces belles idées et le romancier, dégoûté, abandonna le projet du film, qui fut finalement réalisé par Julien Duvivier sur un nouveau scénario. Ce fut Harry Baur qui se glissa dans le pardessus de Maigret, et, bien sûr, nulle apparition de Bob le barman de la Coupole… 

Mais un autre point dans cet interview doit attirer notre attention : en effet, Simenon avait mentionné un second roman sur lequel il voulait travailler pour une adaptation au cinéma : il s’agissait du Charretier de la « Providence », dont le romancier disait qu’il assurerait la supervision. Cette adaptation n’a jamais vu le jour, sans doute suite aux échecs que furent les trois premiers films. Où en était le projet ? Existe-t-il quelque part dans des archives une ébauche d’adaptation ? Le seul élément que j’ai trouvé jusqu’ici se trouve dans un article du journal L’Intransigeant, daté du 25 février 1933, où le journaliste mentionne les trois adaptations des romans de Simenon, auxquelles il ajoute Le Charretier de la « Providence », le mentionnant comme ayant été tourné par Jean Renoir. Sur quoi s’est basé le journaliste ? Il serait tout de même bien étonnant que ce film ait vraiment été tourné et ait complètement disparu des cinémathèques… Chercheurs, à vous de jouer ! 

Quoi qu’il en soit, ce serait sans doute un beau film à tourner, avec ses ambiances et ses décors tellement typiques, ses personnages hauts en couleur. Quatre adaptations pour la télévision en ont été faites (avec Rupert Davies, Kinya Aikawa, Jean Richard et Bruno Crémer), mais je pense qu’une version pour le cinéma pourrait être tout à fait intéressante. Qui sait, après ce Maigret avec la jeune morte annoncé depuis quelques mois, pourquoi pas un Maigret et le vieux charretier ?... 

Murielle Wenger 

SIMENON SIMENON TORNA LUNEDÍ - DE RETOUR LUNDI - BACK ON MONDAY

• Dopo qualche giorno di pausa a causa di problemi tecnici, lunedi 4 maggio Simenon Simenon tornerà on line

• Après quelques jours de suspension en raison de problèmes techniques, Simenon Simenon sera de retour en ligne le lundi 4 mai

• After a few days off due to technical problems, Simenon Simenon will be back on line on Monday 4 May

SIMENON SIMENON. AVVISO - AVIS - ALERT

Per motivi tecnici non dipendenti dalla nostra volontà, da qualche giorno e per almeno un paio di giorni, non potremo pubblicare i consueti post quotidiani di Simenon-Simenon.
Ce ne scusiamo con i nostri visitatori che avvertiremo qui e nelle pagine di Facebook, appena potremo riprendere la pubblicazione on line

Pour des raisons techniques indépendantes de notre volonté, depuis plusieurs jours et probablement encore pour un ou deux jours, nous ne sommes pas en mesure de publier les habituels billets quotidiens de Simenon-Simenon.

Nous nous en excusons auprès de nos visiteurs, que nous avertirons ici et sur les pages Facebook, dès que nous pourrons reprendre la publication en ligne.

For technical reasons beyond our control, for several days and probably still for a couple of days, we are unable to publish the usual daily posts from Simenon-Simenon.

We apologize to our visitors, and we will notify here and on the Facebook pages as soon as we can resume the online publication.

SIMENON SIMENON. DA FAYARD A NIELSEN, MA IL ROMANZIERE NON CAMBIA

Tre editori molto diversi per un romanziere che rimane sempre uguale

SIMENON SIMENON. SIMENON SIMENON. DE FAYARD À NIELSEN, MAIS LE ROMANCIER NE CHANGE PAS

Trois éditeurs très différents pour un romancier qui reste toujours le même

SIMENON SIMENON. FROM FAYARD TO NIELSEN, BUT THE NOVELIST DOES NOT CHANGE

Three very different publishers for a novelist who always remains the same

Fayard, Gallimard, Nielsen. Tre nomi di editori che coprirono la produzione letteraria di Simenon dalla fine degli anni '20 alla fine degli '80. Sessant'anni che racchiudono quasi tutta la produzione letteraria  di livello di Simenon.

Rapporti diversi, molto diversi diremmo, dovuti alla posizione in cui si trovò storicamente l'autore nei confronti di questi imprenditori dell'editoria.

Nemmeno trentenne, e con all'attivo oltre un centinaio di titoli popolari tutti firmati con pseudonimi, iniziò la collaborazione con Fayard proprio per i romanzi  popolari.

Poco più che trentenne, quando invece entrò nel sancta sanctorum dell'editoria francese del patron Gaston Gallimard, reduce dai successi dei Maigret e all'inizio della sua carriera di scrittore di romans durs.

Quando Simenon si stava preparando a lasciare la Francia, ad oltre quarant'anni, conobbe Sven Nielsen, allora un distributore librario che stava affacciandosi nell'editoria. Per Nielsen avere un autore come Simenon, anche da solo, voleva dire far partire la casa editrice. Simenon dal canto suo si ritrovava in un piccola dimensione, che gli permetteva di padroneggiare tutte le fasi della pubblicazione dei romanzi, mettendo bocca sulla grafica, sulla pianificazione editoriale... forse anche sui conti... Per altro i due ebbero subito una buona impressione uno dell'altro, s'instaurò un ottimo rapporto che durò molto a lungo.

E' evidente che nonostante la decantata capacità di trattare con gli editori, Simenon poté comportarsi, ad esempio con Gallimard, in un certo modo perché era un autore apprezzato da qualsiasi editore, per il ritmo serrato della sua produzione, per la qualità media decisamente alta, per la capacità di scrivere i Maigret, grande tiratura e guadagni elevati, ma anche di poter produrre dei romanzi di spessore... un romanziere raccomandato nientemeno che da André Gide. 

Ma pure con Fayard, anche se ad un livello più basso di Gallimard, abbiamo detto, la sua forza di contrattazione era quella di un autore di successo nella narrativa popolare, Eppure Simenon ebbe la forza di imporre quello strano commissario di cui Arthème Fayard, Joseph, figlio del fondatore Joseph-François, non ne voleva nemmeno sentir parlare... e invece, alla fine del contratto, si ritrovarono su posizioni opposte. Fayard che pregava Simenon di continuare con le inchieste del commissario e il romanziere che non pensava altro a scrivere romans durs... basta Maigret!

A proposito di editori, vogliamo ricordare il già citato incontro Gallimard-Simenon, nel giorno in cui dovevano decidere e firmare il contratto che legava lo scrittore alla casa editrice. Gallimard voleva prenderla alla larga, invitandolo a pranzo dove avrebbero parlato degli accordi, cercando di  ammorbidire la trattativa. E invece Simenon pretese che il documento fosse redatto nell'ufficio in un lasso di tempo in cui Gallimard avrebbe staccato il telefono e avrebbe ordinato alla segretaria di non far entrare nessuno.

Forse voleva tenere un atteggiamento nettamente professionale, senza concessioni a deviazioni mondane e goderecce. E poi c'era quella sua avversione agli ambienti letterari, alla promiscuità con altri autori, ai cenacoli letterari, e la Gallimard era un concentrato di nomi altisonanti, ai quali Simenon non voleva mischiarsi, non per presunzione o per spocchia, solo perché non si trovava bene tra quelle persone... come invece gli accadeva con i medici...!

Certo gli editori erano essenziali alla sua attività, forse un male necessario con cui doveva imparare a convivere. Ma proprio questa è la spiegazione della sua scelta di Presses de la Cité che fu suo editore più a lungo degli altri. 

La produzione di Simenon non ci pare sia stata influenzata in modo diverso dagli editori per cui scriveva. Certo i suoi Maigret e i suoi romans durs cambiarono nel corso del tempo, ma c'erano altri motivi, la sua crescita, le esperienze vissute, l'età... probabilmente contarono più di quanto potesse valere la sigla editoriale. (m.t.)

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET AND THE ENGLISH

A culture shock for the commissaire. "Le revolver de Maigret."

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET E GLI INGLESE
Uno schock culturale per il commissario. "La rivoltella di Maigret."
SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET ET LES ANGLAIS
Un choc culturel pour le commissaire. "Le revolver de Maigret."

Just as Le Charretier de la ‘Providence’ and Mon ami Maigret draw on Simenon’s experiences in his trips along the waterways of France aboard the Ginette in 1928 and his holidays in Porquerolles in the 1920s and 1930s, so Maigret’s visit to London in Le revolver de Maigret (1952) is also informed by events in the author’s own life. In August 1945, Simenon, like Maigret took a flight to Croydon airport in the southern suburbs of London and stayed for a number of days at the Savoy, one of the capital’s most exclusive hotels. Maigret, who is in London in pursuit of the young Alain Lagrange who has stolen his revolver and is now on the run, calls on the assistance of Inspector Pyke who had accompanied him to Porquerolles in Mon ami Maigret. Until now, Maigret’s impressions of the English had been formed on the basis of encountering them in France, but in the course of his brief sojourn in London he now has the opportunity to observe them on their home ground, thereby opening up the possibility of a broader overview of English society. 

It is, nevertheless, a view of England and the English based on contacts that are mainly restricted to hotel personnel and his Scotland Yard colleagues. While Simenon’s reliance in his fiction on his own personal experience often adds to the immediacy and vividness of his descriptions, it can also be a limiting factor in painting a broader social canvas. The London suburbs that Maigret drives through in his journey from Croydon airport show no signs of the aerial bombing of 1940-1945 which had reduced significant parts of the capital to rubble, and post-war austerity, with its attendant strict rationing of foodstuffs and other items, is not in evidence in the expensive restaurants where the commissaire eats.  

Although there are references to an earlier visit to London twelve or thirteen years previously, Maigret’s response to London is that of an outsider in an unfamiliar environment in which he feels out of place and disoriented: ‘Was it because he was conscious of being abroad? The street lamps seemed to him to have a different sort of light from the ones in Paris […] and even the air had a different smell’. His overall impression is of an ordered society with everything in its place from the neat houses and gardens of the suburbs to the liveried chauffeur of the Scotland Yard Bentley and the floral buttonholes which seem to constitute a sort of uniform for police and hotel personnel alike. Social life is governed by rules - speed limits and traffic lights are respected and the police follow strict procedures - which are implicitly recognised and automatically followed by all.  

Maigret discovers ‘details which enchanted him, then, all of a sudden, others which infuriated him’, not least the laws limiting the hours in which alcohol can be sold in public places and which mean that the commissaire cannot get a drink in the Savoy hotel bar before 11.30 in the morning or between 3 o’clock and 5.30 in the afternoon. Removed from his familiar surroundings and cultural norms, unsure of what constitutes acceptable behaviour in polite English society, communicatively limited by his very basic command of English, constrained and intimidated by a social context of which he is largely ignorant, the commissaire is a victim of a culture shock so profound that it causes him to extrapolate and generalise his own feelings in a demonstration of empathy in wondering ‘Did Inspector Pyke have the same humiliating sensation during his stay in France?’.  

Despite its difficult moments, Maigret’s experience is been a rewarding one in terms of the growth in his intercultural awareness and competence  On his return to Paris, the commissaire has fond memories of his visit to London, realising that, with a degree of openness, understanding and good will, national cultural differences can be transcended; he has ‘kept a soft spot for Mr. Pyke’ and even goes so far when walking through the streets of Paris with Madame Maigret as to try to recreate the moment of pleasure when he drank a glass of beer in a London pub. While he remains a quintessentially middle-class, middle-aged Frenchman in his values, attitudes and behaviour, Maigret’s London visit has been small but significant step towards his becoming a citizen of the world.  

William Alder