Monsieur Spade

Monsieur Spade
Genre	Neo-noir Crime drama Mystery Period drama
Created by	Scott Frank Tom Fontana
Based on	Sam Spade by Dashiell Hammett
Written by	Scott Frank Tom Fontana
Directed by	Scott Frank
Starring	Clive Owen
Composer	Carlos Rafael Rivera
Country of origin	United States France
Original languages	English French
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Scott Frank Tom Fontana Clive Owen Barry Levinson Teddy Schwarzman Michael Heimler Caroline Benjo Barbara Letellier Simon Arnal Carole Scotta Carlo Martinelli David Helpern
Production companies	Haut et Court TV Flitcraft The Levinson/Fontana Company Black Bear Television
Original release
Network	AMC (US) Canal+ (France)
Release	January 14 (2024-01-14) – February 18, 2024 (2024-02-18)

Monsieur Spade is a neo-noir television miniseries created by Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, and starring Clive Owen as Dashiell Hammett's fictional private detective Sam Spade.

Premise

The series was originally released in the United States by AMC Networks, which provided the following synopsis:

The year is 1963, and the legendary Detective Sam Spade is enjoying his retirement in the South of France. By contrast to his days as a private eye in San Francisco, Spade's life in Bozouls is peaceful and quiet. But the rumored return of his old adversary will change everything. Six beloved nuns have been brutally murdered at the local convent. As the town grieves, secrets emerge, and new leads are established. Spade learns that the murders are somehow connected to a mysterious child who is believed to possess great powers.

Cast

Main

• Clive Owen as Sam Spade
• Cara Bossom as Teresa
• Denis Ménochet as Chief of Police Patrice Michaud
• Louise Bourgoin as Marguerite Devereaux
• Chiara Mastroianni as Gabrielle
• Stanley Weber as Jean-Pierre Devereaux
• Matthew Beard as George Fitzsimmons
• Jonathan Zaccaï as Philippe Saint-André
• Rebecca Root as Cynthia Fitzsimmons
• Oscar Lesage as Henri Thibaut

The following actors are credited with the main cast for the episodes in which they appear:

• Dean Winters as Father Matthew
• Alfre Woodard as Virginia Dell

Recurring

• Caroline Silhol as Audrey Saint-André
• Clotilde Mollet as Helena Thibaut
• Vincent Nemeth as Doctor Pouchol

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Episode 1"	Scott Frank	Tom Fontana & Scott Frank	January 14, 2024 (2024-01-14)
Sam and Teresa, a girl he is being paid to deliver, bond when they are stuck for the night in a car. In the morning, an attractive woman, Gabrielle, who will become Sam's wife, arrives to give them a ride. Eight years later, Gabrielle has passed away, and Sam has stayed on the estate. Sam's doctor tells Sam that he is healthy but that emphysema is in his future if he does not stop smoking. A young man comes to Sam's estate and asks Sam if he can spend time on the estate painting landscapes as his father did. There is a flashback: While Teresa and a dog play in the field, Gabrielle explains the history of Philippe and how he is blackmailing her and others about activities during WWII and the occupation of France. Apparently, there is a trust fund in which Teresa's mother put funds (from stolen property) that Teresa will get when she is 18. Teresa's mother created the trust fund to protect the money for Teresa from her father, Philippe. Sam visits Marguerite Devereaux at the club. She pays him his share of the club's earnings. Sam owns one-half the club. Jean-Pierre Devereaux wants Sam to buy him out of his share of the club. Jean-Pierre claims that Sam stole it and the estate, too. Sam has a discussion with the Mother Superior at the convent where Teresa now lives. He also delivers a donation, effectively paying for Teresa's room and board and care. Teresa is bitter about being in the convent instead of with Sam or at the estate or both. Sam, alone at home in the late evening, receives a phone call from Philippe. Philippe warns Sam to stay away from Teresa and threatens Sam if he does not. Sam hears a gunshot through the phone. The next day, Sam reports his phone conversation with Philippe to Chief of Police Patrice Michaud. Patrice grudgingly says that he will investigate. Before leaving, Sam tells Patrice, "You owe me." Patrice replies, "You have that backwards. You live here at my pleasure." Sam has a conversation with Marguerite in the empty club. He explains how he came to be what he was: someone who solved other people's problems by brutalizing or eliminating the people who caused those problems. Marguerite's husband Jean-Pierre enters; he threatens and attacks Sam, but Sam immobilizes him. Sam returns home at night. Teresa comes running. She tells Sam a story about her father Philippe coming to visit her and that he'd been shot. Then there was an ugly monk, and the monk hit Mother Superior. Sam goes to the convent to investigate. He finds multiple murdered nuns.
2	"Episode 2"	Scott Frank	Scott Frank & Tom Fontana	January 21, 2024 (2024-01-21)
Sam prepares breakfast for two, then discovers that Teresa is gone. Someone has slashed his tires. He takes the other (luxury) car. He comes upon George Fitzsimmons, walking and returning from painting, who tells Sam that he saw Teresa looking distraught, shoes muddy, on the road. Sam goes to the convent. The cleaning man tells him that the girls have been sent to another convent and that he has not seen Teresa. Sam goes into Mother Superior's (Elizabeth's) office and searches for info. He walks away with some folders. He later suspects that one nun's folder is missing. He hears the bells, goes up into the bell tower, and finds Teresa there. After a discussion, Teresa and Sam drive away. They talk about Gabrielle. Teresa says, "She didn't want me to hate you for what you did to my father." They are shot at by a man on a motorcycle. Neither of them are hurt. Sam chases in the car, but the shooter escapes on the motorbike. Patrice and his brother retrieve a bullet lodged in the car. They conclude it is from an army rifle. Henri reports to Sam. Philippe's file has lots of blacked out info. Sam concludes that Philippe is a spy. Henri also says that Philippe was hiding an Algerian woman in his quarters. A flashback - Chief of Police Patrice Michaud and Mother Superior discuss awful events and killings in the past and also what to do about Philippe. Patrice wants to kill him or to have Sam take care of him. Mother Superior resists. We also learn that Jean-Pierre suffers from very serious PTSD from the horrors of his experiences in the war. Cynthia Fitzsimmons wants to see the painting her late husband did. She says that she also knows Philippe Saint-André. The discord and unhappiness between Jean-Pierre and Marguerite continues. Teresa and Sam talk. Who shot at her and Sam? Teresa tells about the shootings of the nuns. The killer wanted to know where the boy was, but the nuns did not talk and were shot one by one. Teresa saves herself by stabbing the killer with the knife she had hidden in her doll. Samir, who works for Marguerite Devereaux, finds the boy hiding in Marguerite's office.
3	"Episode 3"	Scott Frank	Tom Fontana & Scott Frank	January 28, 2024 (2024-01-28)
During a flashback, we hear a discussion between Sam and Philippe that fills in some of the back-story about Philippe's attempts to blackmail Gabrielle and about why Gabrielle wanted Philippe to disappear. Marguerite's hired man, Samir, takes the boy to his family and mates for protection. They are scared. Deportation and death? A flashback: Sam talks with Gabrielle. Maybe she is sick. Their relationship and her life do not have a long expected lifespan. Samir and friends discuss Zaid. Is he the chosen one? Is he the Mahdi? We/they must tell someone. They bring in their Imam, who tells them that the boy is extremely important. The boy, Zaid, keeps writing nonsense characters. What does it mean? A code? Does Zaid have encryption/decryption capabilities? Sam and Jean-Pierre Devereaux have a conversation. It's about Gabrielle, how she was mentally unstable after her first husband's (Jacque's) death. About who owes whom; about whether Marguerite loves Jean-Pierre; about settling accounts. Jean-Pierre says that he will not fight Sam any longer and that, if he wants Sam dead, he only had to wait for Sam to smoke himself to death. Sam tells Teresa how her father and mother got the money to fund her (Teresa's) trust fund: stolen antiques and worse. Philippe calls: Meet me in the cemetery. Sam finds his gun; looks at several passports. Sam goes to the cemetery in the dark. No one is there. He races back home, worrying about Teresa. There is someone in the house. Helena is on the floor. Sam is attacked by and struggles with someone who is trying to kill him. George Fitzsimmons and his mother Cynthia have bugged Sam's house and hear the fight. George picks up a gun and starts to go. But Cynthia stops him and says: We have been told not to interfere. But, we viewers do not know by whom. Who are their managers?
4	"Episode 4"	Scott Frank	Scott Frank & Tom Fontana	February 4, 2024 (2024-02-04)
1945: Jacques meets Gabrielle in the dark. Jacques believes they are leaving together. Gabrielle accuses Jacques of something and shoots him. One after another more than 5 or 6 people show up and each shoots Jacques. Philippe and his mother hear the shots, and apparently they know what has happened and are in on it. Everyone is in one it. Everyone shoots him: Mother Superior, the doctor, Patrice, and more. Someone in Sam's house attacks Helena, then tries to strangle Sam. Henri saves him. Sam sends Henri, Helena, and Teresa upstairs. He then brutally interrogates the attacker, who is from SDECE, the French secret service during the Algerian war. Marguerite is taken to speak with Jean-Pierre's father, who is dying. Marguerite hates him and will not forgive him for what he has done, especially to Jean-Pierre. The second SDECE man is found dead in Sam's swimming pool. He was shot in the back of the head, but Henri claims that he only winged him in the arm. Patrice warns Sam that he is not in San Francisco any more and cannot do whatever he wants. Jean-Pierre's father is dying. He gives a packet of letters (from Jean-Pierre?) to Marguerite. Samir's wife warns him about a lurker and that the boy is weird. Jean-Pierre talks with an old friend who was tortured by the FLN. Marguerite confesses that she cooperated with Jean-Pierre's father to try to get him out of the war. Jean-Pierre confesses to Marguerite about some deal with the devil. Jean-Pierre turns the boy, Zaid, over to Philippe. Sam and Patrice have lunch with George and his mother Cynthia. Sam becomes suspicious about their activities. Are they spying?
5	"Episode 5"	Scott Frank	Tom Fontana & Scott Frank	February 11, 2024 (2024-02-11)
6	"Episode 6"	Scott Frank	Scott Frank & Tom Fontana	February 18, 2024 (2024-02-18)

Production

Monsieur Spade is a co-production between AMC and Canal+. The co-creators are Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, who also wrote the scripts and served as executive producers. Additionally, Frank directed all episodes. The series was filmed in France.

Release

The series, which consists of six episodes, premiered on AMC, AMC+, Sundance TV and Acorn TV on January 14, 2024. A first look image and teaser trailer were released in September 2023.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 77% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.8/10, based on 26 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Commanding the camera's full attention amidst the French countryside, Clive Owen makes for a mesmerizingly craggy Sam Spade even as the series around him struggles to live up to its hallowed lineage." On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

External links

• Monsieur Spade at IMDb