Inspector Lavardin

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Simon T @Bucksplit 11/12/2024 A worthy sequel to Chabrol's Cop Au Vin, showcasing Jean Poiret's amused and forensic detective. The setting could be the same as the previous outing - a large country house in Dinard where a wealthy businessman becomes a murder victim, his naked body discovered on a nearby jetty. The usual Chabrol themes - family secrets and lies - are enjoyably played out with a layering of comedy, only undermined by the sometimes tortuous plotting. See more CKB 11/02/2022 Chabrol brings back the 'vinegary' Inspector Lavardin from Cop au vin (aka Poulet au vinaigre) to put some more small town players through his particular style of acid bath, with plenty of wit and sparkle along the way. Everything's more personal this time around, for the widow of the murder victim he's investigating is an old flame who vanished from his life 20 yrs before (and who remains nicely mysterious to the very end). The theme here is professing morality vs doing what is truly right, so this time Lavardin refrains from his tough guy methods to get the truth, and employs some nice leverages to achieve his ends. Chabrol also invokes Sherlock Holmes, having Lavardin call his clueless policeman assistant 'Watson', making the widow appear to be Lavardin's version of Holmes' only love, Irene Adler, and requiring the inspector to make a Holmesian judgement call, putting the law's demands aside to protect the innocent. The camerawork is subtly exceptional, and Chabrol's son Matthieu provides a Les Six-style score that suits his father's work nicely. See more 02/06/2022 The sequel to the 1984 film Cop au Vin, Inspecteur Lavardin finds the detective (Jean Poiret) demoted to investigations in a small coastal town due to his investigation techniques involving dunking suspect's heads under water. This brings him into the case of a murdered Catholic writer named Raoul Mons, who has been found dead on the beach with the word pig written all over his back. It turns out that Raoul wasn't just a drug dealer, blackmailer and rapist, but also was married to Helene, an old flame that that Lavardin hasn't seen for twenty years. Even stranger, her daughter is named Véronique, the same name he'd always wanted to give to a daughter. And when the truth comes out, will the Inspector stay with his new family or just go home alone with his breakfast obsessions and the photo of a murderess in his wallet? Two years later, Poiret would return to this role for four episodes of the TV series Les dossiers secrets de l'inspecteur Lavardin, which was written by Chabrol, had two episodes directed by him and also featured his son Thomas. See more paul d @PaulusLoZebra 12/15/2019 This is an engrossing police and family drama. At its core is a good mystery that a charismatic detective is trying to unravel, surrounded by a series of strange and interesting characters with various quirks and manners and some complex layers of inter-relationships. It all takes place in a seaside French city. See more 03/07/2016 He's no Sherlock Holmes, or even Columbo.Also mystifying why critics think Chabrol is such a master. The shoddy production values, overacting, lack of realistic background sounds, make some scenes feel like a dress rehearsal. If made in America, this would be one of those ABC TV movies that were mainly seen as late night reruns. See more 06/30/2012 Those of you who read my musings on films ,will know i am a huge fan of director Claude Chabrols puzzle box thrillers . They reall are a joy to watch as Chabrol takes his time to build the story and keep you guessing until the final frame. Here we see the return of Inspector Lavardin who we first saw in the film Cop Au Vin in 1984. Lavardin is played to perfection by Jean Poiret as he uncovers some rather odd goings on after the discovery of a dead writer on a beach . The film is full of Chabrols sublime trickery and fancy footwork as the suspects all take shape with all their skeletons rattling around in the closet. Even Lavardin isnt pure black and White he is not afaid to bend the rules to get what he wants even with the law on his side. Despite the fact the film is a thriller its very funny in parts as Lavardin delivers pithy comments on whats going on around him. The film has a nice intricate pace and shows again why Claude Chabrol was the master of the Galic thriller. See more Read all reviews

Inspector Lavardin

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