Customer Reviews

The Clockmaker

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Former film critic Bertrand Tavernier's debut film from 1973, *The Clockmaker*, still stands as one of the best French films of the Seventies -- a decade that saw some pretty damn good French films. (The two intervening decades between then and now cannot make that claim.) Based on a novel by Simenon, the screenplay was written by Tavernier along with New Wave veterans Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost -- hence the occasional New Wavey jump-cuts and mannerisms, especially early in the film. But Tavernier -- a writer, after all -- soon calms down and does what all good writers do, which is to focus on character. He's helped considerably with this by two tremendous performances from Philippe Noiret as the titular clockmaker and Jean Rochefort as Lyons' chief police detective. Transplanted from the New York setting of Simenon's book to Lyons during "the last days of De Gaulle" (to quote the review below mine), the story is about the befuddlement of the town's widowed clock repairman whose grown son has apparently murdered a man. The son is on the lam with his girlfriend, leaving the father with no comprehension of why they did it. We soon learn that he has no comprehension of his son, period, despite the fact that the son still lives at home and that they are on relatively good terms. But "good terms" are not the same thing as involvement, knowledge, or caring. (Deftly, Tavernier makes a political parallel to the main plot with an interweaving theme about France's government during this period: French citizens are, according to the radio, "89% happy", but at the same time there are leftist insurgents and terrorists burning cars and striking factories.) The most interesting conflict in this character study is between Noiret and Rochefort's compassionate detective on the case: Rochefort, having an adult son of his own that he hardly knows, latches onto Noiret, perhaps hoping that the clockmaker's experiences in this awful situation might provide some insights for his relationship with his own kid. The main suspense in this "thriller" is whether or not Noiret will allow himself to be taken under the cop's wing. His son may get a lighter prison sentence as a result, but the compromises entailed in not standing by the kid will only widen the distance between them. So . . . an action-adventure about lovers on the lam? Hardly. Tavernier is interested in the deeper stuff. *The Clockmaker* is a difficult, thoughtful, emotional film that deserves wider recognition on this side of the pond. This DVD release from Kino will hopefully get that process started.

Noiret is superb in the role of a (single) father who quietly works towards reconciliation with his son, after adolescence and differences in their characters have put distance between them, when the son is charged with murder of a factory worker. Rochefort's (the cop) performance complements Noiret's. The main theme, exquisitely developed, is the challenge of authenticity in the love between parents and children; political alienation of the French working class people in the last days of DeGaulle is the (perhaps allegoric) secondary theme.

Since his son is arrested due a political murder, his father-a watchmaker who lives in Lyon is mortified to learn this awful new.

He will employ all the tools ofhis office to analyze, scrutinize and inspect all the related issues of this political murder. This was the first feature film of this famous French director.

Overwhelming acting of Noiret,as always. A slow paced film which will reward you!

"Your son killed a man...We don't know why." The cause of the movie is the murder. The purpose of the movie is to look closely at Michel Descombes, the father. The Clockmaker (l'Horloger de Saint-Paul) is not a murder mystery. Were it not for the skills of Bertrand Tavernier and his frequent lead actor, Philippe Noiret, we might be in for a long, introspective slog full of what it means to be a solitary human being. With these two, and with Jean Rochefort as Inspector Guilboud, we have a movie that explores loneliness, friendship and, eventually, understanding with a good deal of depth and style.

Descombes is a self-contained man, friendly enough, probably what he thought of as a reasonably good parent, but not an especially happy man. "You're a widower?" a policeman asks. "No, not exactly," he says. "We were already separated. I guess I am a widower. I was just as miserable as one." Descombes struggles to understand his young son. Inspector Guilboud struggles to understand the son's motive, and then to understand the father. The more they learn, however, the more the fact of the matter stays the same; the son murdered a man. "I killed him because he was filth," Bernard Descombes eventually declares. Guilboud finds some empathy with Descombes. Even so, Descombes' son will be caught. "France is a funny country," Guilboud says. "Fifty-million inhabitants, twenty million informants." Descombes' son seems to represent more than just another murderer to Guilboud, a man with his own issues. He may see something of himself in Descombes. It is Descombes, however, who has to make the hardest journey, to try to understand who his son is.

The Clockmaker turns out to be one of the most interesting of the collaborations between Tavernier and Noiret, even with the now dull political subtext of complacent and suffocating French society. Still, the movie was made in 1974, an uneasy period. The movie finds itself, however, and the last twenty minutes are powerful minutes. "I stand by my son...in complete solidarity." Without Noiret, this movie would not have worked at all well, in my opinion. With Noiret and Rochefort, it works very well.

Other films by Tavernier and starring Noiret that I recommend with enthusiasm include Coup de Torchon - Criterion Collection (a marvelous black comedy), Revenge of the Musketeers and Life and Nothing But.

The DVD transfer by Kino is inexcusably poor, with a cropped, fuzzy, dark picture and poor color hues. The subtitles are yellow with black edging and are easy to read. There are no extras.

"The Clockmaker" turned out to be an interesting movie despite some annoying distractions. It impressed me as the story of a man who had led a casual life and realized, almost too late, what he had missed out on. His quiet, non-intrusive life was interupted one day when he finds that his son is accused of murder and is on the run. The movie follows the father as he gradually becomes more and more involved with the issues surrounding the murder, the policeman who is in charge of the investigation, and the need to understand who this son of his really is. I really enjoyed the way the subtle yet continuous changes emerged in the father. He slowly loses his "whatever" outlook and apolitical attitude. While he changes from someone we like into someone we're not sure of, we realize it's because of his need to better understand his son. Although there really aren't any surprises, I'll leave it at that rather than risk saying too much.

My objection to "The Clockmaker" is that it is described as a thriller. On a Hitchcock standard, "The Clockmaker" would be the equivilent of "The Wrong Man". If you haven't seen that one, you may have a long wait to do so. It, too, had the expectation of a thriller by virtue of the director and was never really appreciated as the psychological study it was. My other objection is the attempt at involving politics in the story. The effort was lame and the effect was a distraction. I came away with no real understanding of the issues (other than Owner vs. Worker 101). The issue would pop up unnecessarily and too often; all the more reason that the father is the only true focus of the movie.

*** 1974. Loosely based on Georges Simenon's The watchmaker of Everton, THE CLOCKMAKER was co-written and directed by Bertrand Tavernier. Earned the 1973 Louis Delluc Prize and two awards during the 1974 Berlin International Film Festival. The son of an ordinary French clockmaker commits murder. His father tries to understand why. Not bad but more a social study than an investigation movie. Hence, one can be annoyed by the numerous references to the French social climate of the early seventies.

i saw this film as a simple, if somewhat homoerotic love story between a lonely father and a sympathetic police officer. reading the two other reviews up here i realize that perhaps i was wrong. the film features good acting by phillipe noiret as the father, although a cynic would argue that his sad-eyes did all the work. the moral of the film is that that acts of violence against deserving bad guys can repair strained father-son relationships. hey bertrand, we already saw indiana jones and the last crusades. NEXT!