Jean Delannoy stands as one of the best (if not simply the best)Simenon adapters.In the short space of two years he made two gems ,while the nouvelle vague was insulting him ,and these two gems should not be missed:"Maigret tend un piège" and "Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre" (1959),both absorbing,both featuring a top-notch cast,both packing a real wallop.The first one is an urban psychological thriller,the second one takes place in the country,in the castle of old aristocrats.<br /><br />"Maigret tend un piège" is at first sight a serial killer story ,but Simenon is too subtle a writer to be content with that.And I'm sure that Jean Delannoy had seen Julien Duvivier's sensational film noir "voici le temps des assassins "(1956):not only he casts Jean Gabin as Maigret,Gabin who was the hero of Duvivier's movie,but he also uses Lucienne Bogaert ,who was his ex-wife in the same movie.Bogaert portrayed a drug addict abominable criminal in 1956;in Delannoy's film,she is an over possessive mother,proud of his son who could have been a sculptor,a painter,an artist,a genius,had they not thwarted his outstanding gifts.<br /><br />SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS This son is a very complex character masterfully played by Jean Desailly,who probably found his lifetime part here:he's so intense that he will leave you ill-at-ease.He cries,screams ,begs,almost never stops twitching,and his tragic strength is absolutely incredible."Be a man!!!" Gabin shouts ,whereas he's an impotent little boy ,under his mother's thumb.From the very beginning,-and what I write is not really a spoiler- we know he's the killer,Simenon did not write a whodunit,he's more interested in his poor man's psychology whom his mother and his wife -an excellent Annie Girardot- will try to save ,stopping at nothing for that.<br /><br />The film begins slowly ,but when it hits its stride,after about thirty minutes ,it grabs you till the very end ,with more and more verbal violence.<br /><br />No,Jean Delannoy is not the mediocre director the nouvelle vague used to despise.<br /><br />