Monsieur Spade (Frank, Fontana, 2024)

Written by Tom Augustine.

It’s peculiar that the character of Sam Spade hasn’t enjoyed the lengthy screen life of other notable detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Where both those characters are oddballs and misfits characterised by their alienating brilliance, Spade – at least as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in John Huston’s noir classic The Maltese Falcon – is smooth, coolly detached and handsome, an American characterised less by his three-steps-ahead perceptiveness than by his rumpled, weatherbeaten charm. Falcon was the last time we saw Spade on screen, while Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, said to have been influenced by the Spade character, has appeared on-screen as recently as 2022, and was also played by Bogie in The Big Sleep. That makes the Spade role ripe, in the modern parlance, for a bit of IP rejuvenation, but Monsieur Spade, the six-part miniseries landing on Rialto Channel this week, far exceeds any lowly aspirations to cashing in on a known property. 

The series arrives care of Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, Frank perhaps best known in the modern day as the creator of buzzy miniseries The Queen’s Gambit, responsible for launching star Anya Taylor-Joy into megastardom. He also has a number of iconic, masterful screenplays under his belt, including those for Minority Report, Logan and Out of Sight, one of the best films of the nineties. Fontana, meanwhile, is best known for his gritty, urbane crime dramas Oz and Homicide: Life on the Street. That’s a potent mix – a screenwriter exceptionally talented at rendering elevated blockbuster fare and another with a nose for great crime drama. In their envisioning of the Spade character, we find an older version of Sam Spade retired in the south of France, after a routine mission to deliver the estranged daughter of a wayward Frenchman to their door goes awry. Spade, who has since settled in the town of Bozouls and married then lost a wife, is brought back into action when the local convent is the site of the grisly murder of six nuns. The sun-drenched French locale has been the site of many retired heroes drawn back into action – think last year’s The Equalizer 3 – but in Monsieur Spade it becomes an enjoyably menacing space, its quaint, picturesque layout masking any number of strange and often frightening elements, most notably a looming, growling monk with unknown intentions. It’s a welcome corollary to the neo-noir’s most reliable setting, Los Angeles. 

Starting off the new year with a bang, The Queen’s Gambit creator Scott Frank’s update of legendary gumshoe Sam Spade, a role made iconic by Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, breaks new ground while delivering a reliably thrilling, muscular neo-noir befitting such a character. Featuring a memorable turn from Clive Owen as an older, more world-weary iteration of the detective, it’s a modern update that more than makes a case for itself.

At the centre of it all is Clive Owen as Spade. Owen has long been a presence that the Hollywood machine never quite knew what to do with. Once considered a frontrunner for James Bond, a role that never eventually coalesced, Owen has arguably had a more varied and interesting career as a result (here’s hoping another one-time Bond hopeful, Idris Elba, can achieve the same). Owen’s finest performances, like those in Children of Men, Inside Man and The Knick, each found their own way into the somewhat otherworldly quality of the man – that rich, deep voice; those guarded, soulful eyes – creating characters that had a shimmer of ‘specialness’ to them, whether they be everyman or criminal genius. Spade is an ideal role for Owen, enigmatic and unshakeable, carrying a deep sadness but ever at the ready for a verbal sparring match. This version of Spade is older, and there is the pervasive sense of the world catching up with him – his grief over the loss of his love, yes, but also in the hovering threat of an emphysema diagnosis that emerges whenever Spade is required to exert excessive physical effort. The comfort of his retirement hasn’t dwindled his investigative powers, though, and the pleasure of Monsieur Spade is in watching this fish out of water nevertheless needle his way into the hidden motives of the many denizens of Bozoul, including roughhousing police chief Michaud, a memorable foil played by the ever-reliable Denis Ménochet of Inglourious Basterds fame (for another side to Ménochet, seek out the excellent, wildly upsetting French thriller Custody). 

Frank and Fontana’s rendering of the mystery is likewise robust, at once deceptively simple yet oblique enough to maintain intrigue. There are a number of threads that promise to eventually come together – though there may be a few too many similar-faced Frenchmen in the mix to keep track of – but from the first two episodes watched for review one senses absolute confidence in the writing team to eventually be able to bring it all together. This detective story is elevated beyond mere comfort food – there’s meaningful attempts to reckon with the evils visited upon France in World War Two, but also the colonial evils France itself enacted in the Algerian War, which in Monsieur Spade has just concluded. It’s a period of history that has rarely been covered in Western television or cinema – with the notable exception of The Battle of Algiers – and adds a note of timeliness that pushes the material in fascinating ways. This is aided by the handsome photography and direction, which is assured enough to be unflashy, patient enough to proceed at a languorous pace. Indeed, the first episode of this detective thriller features no gunfights or car chases, and yet, the palpable tension and lush period detail ensure that we’re immediately invested in the fortunes of Spade and those around him (fear not action fans, things kick off quickly and with gusto in the second episode). It’s the assured, unhurried work of two confident creators, ensuring that Monsieur Spade emerges as the first genuine must-see television of this young new year.

Monsieur Spade premieres Tuesdays from January 16, 8:30pm exclusive to Rialto Channel.

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