Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (2003)
Directed by Bruno Podalydès

Film Review

In this, the fourth film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's celebrated novel Le Mystère de la chambre jaune, director Bruno Podalydès offers a distinctly personal slant on the familiar detective mystery genre.  With its 1920s setting, comic book style characters and quirky sense of fun, the film is a respectful mélange of Agatha Christie and Hergé's Tintin - an obvious pastiche, yet one which is crafted with great skill and imagination.

What most sets this apart from similar films is its pleasing nostalgia element (emphasised by the moody photography, slightly parodied characterisation and the mesmerising interludes featuring mechanical “toys”). This is obviously Bruno Podalydès re-living his first acquaintance with the fictional heroes of his early adolescence.  Podalydès also manages to include a number of references to Alain Resnais, a director whom he greatly admires.

Bruno Podalydès' brother, Denis, takes the starring role of the journalist Joseph Rouletabille (who, in this incarnation, bears an uncanny resemblance to Tintin), in a star-studded cast which includes Claude Rich, Sabine Azéma and Pierre Arditi.  Michael Lonsdale is a delight as the eccentric scientist Stangerson, but most endearing is Jean-Noël Brouté in the role of Sinclair, Rouletabille's hopeless sidekick.  The Podalydès-Brouté double act works so well that we can probably expect to see them together in a subsequent film.  The episode in which Rouletabille forces Sinclair to stay on guard inside a grandfather clock is the stuff of film legend.

The film is heavy on exposition (which is perhaps unavoidable given the complexity of the plot in Leroux's original text), but the narrative style and comic embellishments help to make it digestible.  To appreciate the film's artistic style, a second viewing is essential; the first time you watch the film, you are too occupied with the plot to see the lavish detail behind it.   Unlike most films which follow the “whodunit” formula, Le Mystère de la chambre jaune can be watched again and again without losing its appeal.

Film Synopsis

Accompanied by his loyal friend Sinclair, the reporter and amateur sleuth Joseph Rouletabille arrives at château Glandier to investigate one of his most bizarre cases yet.  It seems that Mathilde Stangerson, the daughter of a famous and highly esteemed professor, has just been attacked by an unknown assailant.  Although the young woman is understandably distressed, she appears physically unharmed.   The most bizarre facet of this incident is that the assault took place in a room that was completely sealed from the inside.

No one could possibly have entered or left the room in question without Mathilde knowing, and yet this is apparently what has happened.  Is it possible that the mysterious attacker is of a supernatural kind, or is there a more down-to-earth explanation - a hidden entrance, maybe?  Frédéric Larsan leads the police investigation and soon begins to suspect that Mathilde's fiancé, Robert Darzac, is the culprit.  Rouletabille is sceptical and pursues his own line of enquiry.  It seems that the yellow room in which the attack took place is not likely to give up its secret easily...