Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery_720p(480P)

source: Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery

Loved this movie. Good mystery. Love the actors. Highly reccomend

Unlike other reviewers, I haven't read any of the Inspector Gamache series. But I love Nathaniel Parker, so I watched this. Have to say it was a big bust. It was directed in a static fashion and moved slowly. Also, the acting was pretty bad. Even the mystery wasn't impressive, at least the way it was set up. An elderly woman is killed in the woods by an arrow; she was beloved in the community, so who could have killed her and why? Inspector Gamache (Parker) investigates. Someone called this "Inspector Lynley Goes to Quebec." I didn't find Parker like Inspector Lynley, who had quite a temper and wasn't anywhere as near as quiet as Gamache. The characters were not well fleshed out. All in all, kind of a waste. Reminded me of the Canadian films of Mary Higgins Clark movies - not well done.

This looks like a low budget, whitewashed version where the producers were unfamiliar with the actual story or characters. Louise Penny has created a memorable group and place in Three Pines, but these actors are all 20 years younger and at least 40 lbs thinner than the characters they play, prettier, and entirely lacking in the qualities that make the characters memorable. Even Three Pines is all wrong - it's supposed to be off the beaten path, on a hard to find, unmarked, unpaved road, glimpsed from the top of a mountain as you descend into the valley below. Particularly awful are Clara, who's far younger than her Louise Penny character and lacks the insight and spontaneity of that character; Myrna, who's supposed to be a retired, 60-something, overweight black woman, who also lacks the compassion & experience that she's written with, and Gamache, who's ten years younger and a less imposing, authoritative or compassionate figure in every way. It's as if the GOP or Fox News were in charge of casting - everyone's got blow dried hair & bleached, capped teeth. Blech!

I am a huge fan of Louise Penny. It was disturbing to see this great story cast, essentially, as a Hallmark movie. Everyone is thin and non-descript. Even the lead (a venerated actor), who is supposed to be French Canadian, has only an English accent, and none of the thick, middle-aged body we expect from Ganache. Everyone else has an American accent. I have heard that there is a change coming. Ms. Penny, and her beloved characters, deserve better.

So poorly cast. Armand Gamache and Jean Guy Beauvoir are Francophones not an Anglos. Armand Gamache is much warmer, refined, and compassionate. And Jean Guy is so much more intense, clipped, analytical and impatient. Agent LaCoste is not a pretty white blond woman, but is from the islands. Olivier is so much more delicate than portrayed. Ruth Zardo is never smiling, but she seems so pleasant in this movie. Whoever cast Myrna obviously never read the book. Agent Nichol is just about the closest character to the book, eye rolls and all. I love this series and had hoped for so much more. You would barely know that this was set in the Eastern Townships of Canada other than the beautiful photography. I would be happy to see the next book made into a movie with better casting or the cast more authentically portrayed. And, by the way...WHERE ARE THE THREE PINES THE VILLAGE IS NAMED FOR?

I was also disappointed with this movie adaptation of Louise Penney's Still Life. I love her books and have read them all - twice! I was especially disappointed with the way all the characters ages were lowered by about 20 years. I kept envisioning Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) as Gamache. Also, I see Meryl Streep as Clara, Richard Gere as Peter and Angela Lansbury as Ruth Zardo! To sum it up, This movie was badly cast and not the first class effort that the novel deserved. I hope a better version will be made eventually. I agree with many of you who wrote reviews that the actors should better represent the French-Canadian heritage of many of the characters. Here's hoping someone in Hollywood will take notice and do something about it!

When I was working as an assistant editor in television, one of my bosses told me that a director only makes one casting error. For example, Tom Cruise in "Legend" - a beautiful film, but Tom Cruise is NOT Jack. Which brings me to Still Life. Having read all of Louise Penney's Gamache novels, so far, I have to say that the people responsible for this made-for-TV film could not have picked someone less suited to play Armand Gamache. An Englishman? And someone at least ten years younger than Gamache is in the first novel on which this film is based? And don't even get me started on the actress playing Ruth Zardo. Plus Jean Guy, and Myrna? The less said about this disastrous attempt, the better. I sincerely hope someone else tries their hands at filming these outstanding character-driven mysteries. They couldn't do worse than this flat disappointment.

I have read all the books. Louise Penney has created a fascinating subculture in Quebec. The characters, starting with Inspector Gamache, are as well developed as any that I have read in this genre. It's sad that the first effort to dramatize this author's work is such a weak effort. Let's start with the fact that books and movies are different media. To compare them isn't always fair, but good movies made from good books are quite possible. History shows that (e.g. "To Kill a Mockingbird"). To start with, the movie is just plain dull. The script has no sparkle, no oomph. It seems like nothing ever comes to a point. Penney's characters are marvelous. Not only do they not look the part (bad casting) but the lines they deliver are lacking in breadth. Ruth is one of the most precious, almost frightening of the residents of Three Pines. She would never let Gamache push her around like he does in this film. There is no tension at all. Even when they go to the archer's house, the discovery is ho hum. I hope at some point, this author who has found herself atop the New York Times best seller list will get her due.