Inspector Bellamy, the last film by Claude Chabrol, one of the architects of the French New Wave who died in September 2010 at age 80, features another Gallic legend: Gérard Depardieu, playing the Parisian celebrity detective of the title, a role Chabrol wrote expressly for the actor. On vacation with his wife and near retirement, Bellamy now approaches crime-solving as more of a hobby, though he is still haunted by a childhood incident with his obnoxious younger brother, Jacques, who comes to visit. More mysteries come to the fore—involving an unidentified body in a car wreck, an insurance scam, and a treacherous mistress—in this droll policier by the man once referred to as the “French Hitchcock.” Though he’s in no rush, Bellamy is still determined to find the answers, perhaps even to unravel the root of his lifelong fraternal torment. “I found a kind of dignity in despising myself,” Bellamy explains to his devoted spouse—and Depardieu similarly brings his own ruffled dignity to the film, artfully moving his formidable bulk from scene to scene.