Presented in 35mm courtesy of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, NY

The carefully measured, modest life of a Lyon clockmaker (Philippe Noiret) is shattered when the police come with the news that his son has been accused of murder. Noiret’s quiet, intelligent performance is informed by the film’s rich details, from the personal to the political. Adapted from a Georges Simenon novel, Bertrand Tavernier’s debut feature is “an extraordinary film—the more so because it attempts to show us the very complicated workings of the human personality, and to do it with grace, some humor and a great deal of style” (Roger Ebert). Noiret—perhaps best known for Cinema Paradiso—would go on to make a dozen films with Tavernier, who called him his “autobiographical actor.”