''Bellamy'' — known as ''Inspector Bellamy'' in the U.S. — is a French murder mystery film released in 2009. It is the last film of celebrated French director

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

(who died the following year) and the only time he worked with star

Gérard Depardieu Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, filmmaker, businessman and vineyard owner since 1989 who is one of the most prolific thespians in film history having completed over 250 films since 1967 alm ...

. Chabrol said in an interview that the film is like a "novel that

Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

never wrote", a kind of "

Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created b ...

on vacation".''Depardieu: le monstre de jeu'' (2009), "making of"

featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

included in DVD extras.

Plot summary

Inspector Paul Bellamy (Depardieu) is a seasoned and obese Parisian police detective on vacation with his wife Françoise (Marie Bunel) at her family home in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

. Their tranquil holiday is complicated when he cannot resist becoming involved in the case of a man,

insurance broker An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negoti ...

Emile Leullet (Jacques Gamblin), who recently attempted to fake his own death in a car crash near

Sète Sète (; oc, Seta, ), also historically spelt ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises' ...

for his mistress (Vahina Giocante) and the insurance money. Leullet, hiding under an assumed name and altered appearance and unsure what to do now, seeks out Bellamy for help. (Bellamy is a celebrity and well known throughout France through his published memoirs, which reveal he has a "soft spot for murderers"). Leullet may or may not have killed the homeless man whose corpse was found burned in his car. The dead man, Denis Leprince (also played by Gamblin), was a son of a local judge, now also dead. Bellamy's alcoholic half-brother Jacques Lebas (Clovis Cornillac) shows up unexpectedly and soon he and Paul are bickering bitterly and Paul is back on the bottle himself, which he had previously given up. Françoise is not thrilled with all the disruptions. In between socializing with their gay dentist friend and his partner and quarreling with Jacques, Paul finds time to informally interview and repeatedly question Leullet, Leullet's wife, Leullet's mistress, Leprince's former lover, and many other local denizens. As things become more complicated, family tensions threaten to overwhelm professional obligations. Paul, a professional tough guy, finds himself pondering the meaning of his own life and relationships. Leullet turns himself in to the clueless local police chief who, apparently, has been sleeping with the mistress. He is acquitted at the trial where he is represented (at Bellamy's suggestion) by Leprince's girlfriend's lawyer who renders the defense (also at Bellamy's suggestion) in the form of a

Georges Brassens Georges Charles Brassens (; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and a ...

song. (Brassens was a local Sète hero and had been something of an obsession for Leprince.) Jacques absconds with Paul's car and is soon reported dead in a car crash, but only after Paul has revealed to Françoise the dark secret underlying his fraught relationship with his half-brother and the source of his lifelong ''tristesse''. The film ends with a

W.H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

epigram: "There is always another story/There is more than meets the eye".

Cast

as Paul Bellamy *

Clovis Cornillac Clovis Cornillac (born 16 August 1968) is a French actor, film director, and screenwriter. Life and career Clovis Cornillac was born to actors Myriam Boyer and Roger Cornillac. He started studying theatre at the age of 14. He made his debut ...

as Jacques Lebas *

Jacques Gamblin Jacques Gamblin is a French actor. Life and career Jacques Gamblin is a French actor. He studied at the Centre dramatique de Caen (Caen Dramatic Arts Centre). Originally, Jacques Gamblin was not destined to act. As a professional technician ...

as Noël Gentil/Emile Leullet/Denis Leprince *

Marie Bunel Marie Bunel (born 1961) is a French film and stage actress. Biography Bunel was born on 27 May 1961 in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val-de-Marne, France. She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in West Hollywood, California and took ...

as Françoise Bellamy *

Vahina Giocante Vahina Giocante (born 30 June 1981) is a French actress. Career As ''Marie'' in '' Marie Baie des Anges'' (1997), she is among a group of young wanderers who become enmeshed in love, hate, and violence on the French Riviera. In 1999 she appe ...

as Nadia Sancho * Rodolphe Pauly as l'avocat *

Adrienne Pauly Adrienne Pauly (born 30 May 1977) is a French actress and pop-rock singer. She joined the Conservatoire National Superieur d'Art Dramatique in 1996, where she studied drama, and acted in films until 2002, when she discovered the piano through ...

as Claire Bonheur *

Marie Matheron Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...

as Madame Leullet * Dominique Ratonnat as le médecin *

Yves Verhoeven Yves Verhoeven (born 27 October 1961) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than eighty films since 1989. Selected filmography References External links * 1961 births Living people French male film actors People from Seine-Mar ...

as Alain *

Henri Cohen Henri Cohen may refer to: *Henri Cohen (composer) (1808–1880), French music theorist and composer *Henri Cohen (water polo) (died 1930), Belgian water polo athlete *Henri Cohen (number theorist) Henri Cohen (born 8 June 1947) is a number theor ...

as le président du tribunal *

Thomas Chabrol Thomas Chabrol (born 24 April 1963) is a French actor, director and screenwriter. Filmography On stage References External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chabrol, Thomas 1963 births 20th-century French male actors 21st-century French male a ...

as le type au tribunal *

Bruno Abraham-Kremer Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

as Bernard

Reception

The review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

rates ''Bellamy'' at 88% favorable, based on 26 reviews, as of October 2014.

References

External links

*
New York Times Movie Review
By A. O. Scott ''A Detective Who Solves Crimes for a Living, and as a Pastime'' October 28, 2010 * {{Claude Chabrol 2009 films Films directed by Claude Chabrol 2000s mystery films French detective films 2000s French films