Mystère de la chambre jaune, Le (2003)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Bruno Podalydès

Writers:

Gaston Leroux (novel)
Bruno Podalydès (writer)

Release Date:

11 June 2003 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Plot Keywords:

Detective Is Assassin | Rare Meat | Castle | Detective | Double Identity

Cast

Denis Podalydès	...	Joseph Rouletabille
Jean-Noël Brouté	...	Sainclair
Claude Rich	...	Le juge De Marquet
Scali Delpeyrat	...	Le greffier
Sabine Azéma	...	Mathilde Stangerson
Michael Lonsdale	...	Stangerson
Julos Beaucarne	...	Le père Jacques
Olivier Gourmet	...	Robert Darzac
Pierre Arditi	...	Inspecteur Frédéric Larsan
Isabelle Candelier	...	Madame Bernier
Dominique Parent	...	Monsieur Bernier
George Aguilar	...	Petit-Pied, le garde-chasse
Patrick Ligardes	...	Le brigadier
Sylvain Solustri	...	William, homme en noir
Vincent Vedo Velli	...	Marcel, homme en noir

Also Known As:

Mystère de la chambre jaune, d'après l'oeuvre de Gaston Leroux, Le (France)
The Mystery of the Yellow Room (literal English title)

Runtime:

France:118 min | Argentina:116 min

Country:

Belgium | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:AL | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13 | France:U

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

Version of Mystère de la chambre jaune, Le (1912)

Dumbed-down version of the book...

Interesting comical actor direction... But nothing even close to the wit that we can read in the book. Another one of those sad cases where the book, much longer than a 2-hour adaptation would allow, is twice more interesting than the movie. And it's always sad, for someone who read the book before, to notice that they didn't hesitate to remove most of the secondary plot lines, and even change the configuration of the infamous "Yellow Room" (which was very important to the plot).

But my worst worry would be for some of the actors they hired. Father Jacques is played by a man with an accent (what a stupid idea!) and a very bad actor. But even worse is Robert Darzac -- described as elegant and charming in the book, he also wears a mustache... Which he doesn't in the movie. Of course, the movie also forgets to render him as even remotely elegant or charming. And did I mention he's a very bad actor too? Well, maybe he just did what he was asked to do... Then it's probably the director's fault.

Do yourself a favor and read the book. It's excellent (and basically the book that inspired Agatha Christie in her youth), and doesn't need any of these fancy "inventions" that plague the movie.