L'horloger de Saint-Paul (1974)

U.S. title: The Clockmaker.

Based on the 1954 novel L'horloger d'Everton, by Georges Simenon.

A man learns from the police that his son committed a murder. The victim was a security guard (or floor manager, I am not sure) at the factory where the young man's girlfriend (and apparent accomplice) worked. The two criminals' whereabouts are unknown.

The plot of this psychological drama is comprised basically of a lot of bullshit and mysteries which remain partly unsolved. To be fair, much of the film can still be endured (and, occasionally, even enjoyed) regardless of that, as it concerns the problems of a middle-aged man who questions his role as a father (and as a citizen, perhaps, though this is part of the bullshit). The excellent central performance is key to that enjoyment, and, to yield to a cliché, carries the film. One of the thematic aspects concerns the problem of excessive liberalism in education producing disoriented kids, which the filmmaker would tackle again in L'appât, again, in my opinion, without great success. In The Clockmaker, politics fogs the issue a little, perhaps, and I honestly cannot make head or tail of the protagonist's stance in court, which seems to me more of the same attitude he had in the past, only radicalized.

Rating: 41