BBC1 seems to be expanding its horizons in the noir genre. Leaving the rehashing of the Poirot and Marple stories to ITV, Auntie has gone hunting in the continent. Last couple of years we had Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander, the Swedish police detective from the novels of Henning Mankel. And now we have Rufus Sewell, playing Detective Aurelio Zen of the Michael Didbin novels.
There is something curiously satisfactory about Aurelio Zen. It is as if Didbin had gone through the “Simple Art of Murder” and checked off every box. He fits right into Raymond Chandler's vision of what a detective should be: tacit, able to handle himself in tight situations, neither Puritanical nor debauched, lonesome in a crowd. And most importantly, in a department entirely full of corrupt cops, the last incorruptible man standing in the no-man's land between institutional apathy and the quest for justice.
The first episode, named Vendetta, we see a judge being murdered by a man who had been convicted of a life term. He claims to be innocent and accuses the police and his friends of setting him up. He rattles off his targets: the judge, the main witness and the investigating Detective, Aurelio Zen.
We see Zen going into his office, running into Tania (Caterina Murino), his boss's new secretary. The office bookmaker was running a sweepstakes on who gets to seduce her first. The boss (Stanley Townsend) wants him to review a case that the minister was taking a personal interest in. The case was rather open and shut, the accused having confessed to the murder. Before it had come to Zen, the initial investigators however, had been rather sloppy, there were gaps in the case such as unexplained fingerprints and missing murder weapons. However, Zen's boss would rather not have the minister be aware of the details lest the departmental budget got the ax.
The victims include a sleazy billionaire and two call girls. The tycoon's partner is the accused, being caught on tape leaving the scene of the crime right after the murders. The whole case comes unraveled when he recants his confession. A trial would mean media spotlight and he could name names and open cans of worms the powers that be would rather leave in the dark.
Thus begins the Catch 22 for Zen. The shadowy high ups in the ministry wants him to clear the accused so the case does not go to trial and embarrass the politicians. The top brass of the police want him to nail the man, otherwise they'd look incompetent and foolish. Either way, he has to pay a price: his career.
The investigation leads him to the North, the mountains. We see him solve a seemingly unsolvable puzzle by finding an underground entrance into the crime scene through hidden passages and caves, unused since the war. He survives a kidnapping which turns into an overnight stay in the house of a local bandit. He parts with his captors in a friendly fashion, only to run into the assassins who had been on his trail from the beginning.
His escape and the solving the case all falls rather neatly into one action action packed event. It seemed rather too neat. Simon Burke, the script writer needs to stop relying on the dieux ex machina as a climax solution. It was a little disappointing and one would have liked to see the murder mystery have a more satisfactory solution than what was offered.
A consolation is to see Zen in the aftermath, exacting a price from those who threatened his job. It was good to see him being protective of his boss and at the same time not above petty revenge- makes him very human.
All in all, the show is not without its merits. Zen's pursuit of Tania and his winning of her affections speaks for itself. The dialogue was snappy and economical, with a lot of camera work on facial expression. I really like it when the director allows an actor the full use of his/her repertoire of emotions that come from body language. Mundane gestures become emotionally charged when the artistic talents meet the technical expertise.
The cinematography was very impressive in its realism and understated lighting. The picturesque landscape and the grittiness of the urban Italian scenery as well as the posh Roman background of Zen's regular haunts create a nice contrast. It all adds up to the emotional impact of the show.
The most memorable line of the episode? Tania asking Zen with a mischievous smile, “Are we going to have an affair?” Zen replies quickly, in a matter of fact manner, “Yeah.” She mimics his manner in response, “Okay,” and turns around and walks away.
Looking forward to the next week's episode.
Love it. :)
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