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MovieMail's Review
Georges Simenon was a master of the psychological novel and the debuting Bertrand Tavernier ably captured the mood of L'Horloger d'Everton in this sensitive study of a father's realisation that his own failings have ruined the life of his son.
Transferring the action from provincial America to his home town of Lyons, Tavernier made a conscious break from the iconoclasm of the nouvelle vague by collaborating on the screenplay with Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, who had born the brunt of the tirade against the `Tradition of Quality' that had supposedly ruined French cinema. But, rather than producing a verbose slice of animated radio, they dwelt on the sorrows and silences that bind together a lonely middle-aged divorcee and the police inspector seeking clues as to why this watchmaker's son would have murdered an activist at a nearby factory.
Philippe Noiret and Jean Rochefort excel as the melancholic and cynic caught up in a political scenario that neither really understands. But their performances owe much to the meticulous Tavernier's respect for character, environment and text.
Philippe Noiret plays Michel Descombes, a clock-maker in the district of Saint-Paul, Lyons. He lives quietly, sharing a house with his son who comes and goes as he pleases. One day, a police inspector (Jean Rochefort) arrives looking for Descombes’ son, who has committed a murder.
Based on the novel by Georges Simenon, L’Horloger de Saint Paul is remarkable film as it eschews the expected narrative of a manhunt for the son to focus on the relationship between Descombes and the Inspector, and Descombes and his son, as the clock-maker tries to understand what could have motivated his son to murder.
