This amiable and philosophical French film is the last one done by the inimitable and prolific director Claude Chabrol, who died recently. Gérard Depardieu stars as Paris's renowned police chief, a man whose natural gifts include attention to details, the art of listening, and the ability to solve crimes with his own special blend of fact and intuition. He is on vacation in his country home with his beautiful and intelligent wife Françoise (played with warm authenticity by Marie Bunel). Apart from being a crime buster, one of his pleasures is doing crossword puzzles. But this small delight is interrupted by a stranger in the garden. Bellamy later calls this distraught man (Jacques Gamblin) who confesses that he has killed someone as a part of an insurance scam he had devised.
For some reason unknown to Inspector Bellamy, he is intrigued by this mystery man, baffling his wife by refusing to take a trip with her to Egypt. Bellamy begins his investigation by talking to the mystery man's wife and then to his attractive and seductive mistress.
As the drama proceeds and new details emerge in the case, Bellamy shares everything with his wife. But things change with the arrival of Jacques (Clovis Cornillac), his shiftless, angry alcoholic brother. The two of them have never gotten along and Bellamy reluctantly gives him money when he comes for a visit. Although Françoise thinks her husband is too hard on Jacques, the inspector doesn't see it that way. In one of the more telling scenes between the brothers, Jacques says to Bellamy: "You took all of the luck, leaving none for me." Jacques has come so that both men can, once again, try to come to terms with a horrific family secret.
The focus is not upon class warfare or the enigmatic thrills of breaking the law, but rather on the perks of a rewarding life where work and love have been blended into a pleasing whole. Gérard Depardieu is relaxed and appealing as the famous Parisian detective who sees himself as a Good Samaritan, always willing to help out those in dire distress. Bellamy's intimacies with his wife Françoise are a wonder to behold — especially a gentle love pat on her bottom as she walks to another room. The most compelling mystery in the movie is not the mystery man's crime, but the masterful ways in which the characters enable us to see and accept the mysteries of human nature. Or as the quotation by W.H. Auden (which appears on the screen) puts it: "There is always another story — there's more than meets the eye."
