Great Film overall

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Blistering performances.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film was okay, not brilliant but good enough to watch if you want an easy time with not much tension. It felt more like a soap opera episode. From the trailers I knew they would kill the original story but I thought it would still be a good movie, because of the actors. It's not horrible, the acting is fine and I like this way of filming, but the plot is quite shallow at parts and the characters do inexplicable things. There are serious plot holes, because the film makers spent lots of screen time showing us naked behinds of dead bodies and there was no time left for giving the characters some depth and consistency. The writers go straight to the point before the first ten minutes and then try to build tension on things that couldn't support it. All the plot holes are explained in the book.*spoiler*The scare wasn't in the possibility of a plague outburst but in not understanding how the trails were connected and why.If you've read the book or intend to do so, don't watch the film. Don't even think about it. It has changed EVERYTHING and reveals vital parts of the book in the first four minutes. Different characters, different plot, different ending. Only the basic story is the same, but that's like saying 'it's about a serial killer'. EVERYTHING is changed, this movie is definitely not based on F. Vargas book. In fact, it's the opposite for 75% of it.

The story is taken from a novel in a series by Fred Vargas. Inspector Adamsberg figures in most, but not all of those novels, each of which has an odd plot. I felt that I knew Adamsberg from the several novels, six in all. José Garcia is perfect. Adamsberg is vague, lonely, uncommunicative, and – at times – brilliant. He would be an irritating fellow to work with or for. Only his lieutenant Adrien Danglard has the patience and persistence to put up with his eccentricities, one of which is an inability to remember people's names, including his subordinates and colleagues. Perhaps the author intends this feature to indicate his unwillingness to commit to others. Adamsberg is at least as remote and annoying as Sherlock Holmes, but in different ways.The film makes the local community a character in the story. The Bar Viking, the plaza, the boarding house, the regulars all add to the texture of the story, and to some degree determine events. There are chases for those who must see movement and color on the screen to stay tuned, one over rooftops and another on roller skates. There is a shoot out for those who must have noise, though it seemed to add nothing to either plot or character.But the center of the film is Adamsberg, brooding and intense without saying a word very often. It is an unusual approach these days to rely on acting, rather than shouting, guns, or special effects, but it works. Garcia is compassionate and dedicated, but he is also guarded and vulnerable. He makes mistakes, but presses on. He does not defy authority, but occasionally asserts it slowly and steadily.When Adamsberg's famed intuition does occur, he is as confused by it, as the viewer is, but he works through it, as do we along with him.I hope the film leads to more the Vargas books being filmed and that José Garcia plays Adamsberg again, and again. This film was the last credit for the great Michel Serrault. He gave us much to think about over the years and a great deal of pleasure, too.

In Paris, many citizens go to the precinct since the doors of their apartments have been sprayed with a 4 and the letters "clt". When a dweller is found mysteriously dead in his apartment, Detective Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg (José Garcia) and his partner Danglard (Lucas Belvaux) investigate the case and discover that plague may have killed the victim. Meanwhile, in the center of Paris, the former actor Joss Le Guern (Olivier Gourmet) survives reading advertisements in a square for the public; when he receives weird messages about an outbreak of plague that is coming to Paris, the former professor Hervé Decambrais (Michel Serrault) requests the warnings and goes to the library to research the meaning of the text, where he meets Adamsberg. Together they find that a maniac is killing people using flees contaminated by rats and spreading the disease in the city; without any clue, the police force do not have how to avoid the panic in Paris."Pars Vite et Reviens Tard" is a solid and classy French thriller with an original and engaging story; excellent directions and screenplay that succeed in developing several characters and situation in only 116 minutes running time; magnificent performances, highlighting the veteran Michel Serrault; and awesome music score. This movie is absolutely underrated in IMDb with only 5.4/10. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Sinais da Morte" ("Signs of the Death")

I just read the book, a refreshing thriller, unfortunately i didn't get hold of the DVD yet, but, give the film a chance before you judge. Remember: Quite often, good books are turned into bad films and vice versa......... Fred Vargas has given proof of her ability to write unconventional, but nevertheless interesting books, alas, she is definitely not responsible for what happens to her writing, once she has sold the rights, I mean Adamsberg is not Harry Potter........ But still she is doing fine, her books are very entertaining,and what even counts more is that they add new life to an otherwise rather mature genre.