The Witnesses (Simenon novel)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
The Witnesses (1965, Les Témoins) is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon.
Contents |
Plot
Laurence Lhomond, the wife of a magistrate, has been ill and in bed for five years. Her heart ‘crises’ vary in number and intensity depending on how absorbed her husband is in his work. At least, that's what Xavier Lhomond presumes, and he ends up wondering whether his wife is doing it on purpose.
On the eve of the day when he is to preside over the Cour d'assises in a trial of a man accused of murdering his wife, Lhomond wants to go over the case file at home in the evening. His wife calls him, sensing a crisis. The medicine she asks for dan not be given to her, as Lhomond has clumsily broken the vial containing it that very day. Even though he is feeling the first symptoms of flu, he has to go out and visit his usual pharmacist, despite the late hour. The chemist, a little deaf, does not open until Lhomond calls him from a nearby bar of ill repute. It was as he was leaving the bar that fellow magistrate Frissart, second assessor at the next day's trial, bumps into Lhomond, not without some surprise.
The proceedings begin, led by a magistrate who is feverish with flu. During the midday recess, Lhomond goes to see his doctor, Dr Chouard, who, unable to prescribe bed rest, gives him an injection of penicillin to support him. A shock reaction soon sets in, and as the trial progresses, the president of the court sees himself in the place of the accused, who, like himself, was cheated upon by his wife. If he were accused of killing his wife, would there not be witnesses for the prosecution? For example, the fellow magistrate who saw him leaving the bar in the middle of the night, the pharmacist who had to supply a potion containing strychnine that he had already delivered a few days earlier, those who knew that he was sleeping with his typist, not to mention the clerk who, that very morning, before the hearing, could smell alcohol on his breath because, suffering from the flu, he had swallowed a glass of spirits at home to pick himself up.
Against the accused Lambert, there is no formal evidence. His wife was transported dead to a railway track where she was found decapitated. That evening, Lambert had returned home drunk and collapsed in his hallway. As for Mariette, the victim, we know that she had many lovers.
The parade of witnesses proves unconvincing, as their statements are so contradictory. Jouve, the lawyer of Lambert, gives a very satisfactory closing argument, that the murder could have been committed by anyone. Meeting with the magistrates, the jury decides by a majority vote to acquit Lambert; an ironic smile from Lambert by way of thanks leaves the president perplexed. On leaving the Palais, Dr Chouard waits for Lhomond to tell him that his wife has died that afternoon. She had suffered from an enlarged heart, but had forbidden anyone to tell her husband. So Lhomond had been wrong about her; he had hardly really known her during their life together. Her death was normal, so he needn't worry about being accused of killing her one day. As he walks down the stairs from the bedroom with his dead wife, he decides to marry Germaine Stévenard, the typist who is his mistress.
Special aspects of the novel
In the context of the judicial system, a magistrate, in a state of deliriums caused by a flu, questions the evidence on which guilt in court is based.
The novel features many brief dialogues and impressions of court proceedings, as well as a flashback that sheds light on the main character's past.
Details of the work
Space and time
Space
An unspecified provincial French town.
Time
Contemporary period: 1965.
The characters
Protagonist
Xavier Lhomond. President of Cour d'assises. Married, no children. Age 55.
Other characters
- Laurence Lhomond, née Pierjac, his wife, aged 53.
- Dieudonné Lambert, mechanic, aged 32
- Mariette Lambert, his wife, aged 24
- Jouve, Lambert's lawyer, aged in her thirties
- The other magistrates of the court: Frissart, Delanne and Armemieux.
