The Watchmaker of St-Paul

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Film Description

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.

Film Information

DVD Extras

Director’s Commentary; New foreword by Bertrand Tavernier; Trailer.

Technical Details

Film Media

2 Stills

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Reviews & Articles

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Review by David Parkinson on 4th March 2008

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.

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Article - "Bertrand Tavernier - Something for Everybody" by David Parkinson
Tuesday 4th March 2008

Bertrand Tavernier was born on 25 April 1941 in Lyon, the home of the Lumière brothers and the birthplace of French cinema. His father, René Tavernier, was a poet who edited Confluences, one of the few free journals operating under Vichy. But while his respect...  View article in full

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