Directed by Bertrand Tavernier • 1974 • France
Starring Philippe Noiret, Jean Rochefort, Jacques Denis

In Bertrand Tavernier’s masterful feature debut, clockmaker Michel Descombes (Philippe Noiret, in the first of many collaborations with the director) finds his well-ordered life blown apart by the discovery that his son is wanted for murder. As the investigation proceeds, Michel befriends the police inspector (Jean Rochefort) in charge of his son’s case. Based on a novel by Georges Simenon, THE CLOCKMAKER OF ST. PAUL (a.k.a. THE CLOCKMAKER) eschews the expected narrative machinations of a procedural to focus instead on the relationship that develops between the two men as Michel attempts to understand the motivations behind his son’s crime.