A quizzical early hit from Tavernier, spotlighting a couple of players soon to become ubiquitous in French cinema. Noiret is a jovial clock-mender in a small town who is prompted to reassess his whole life when police Inspector Rochefort turns up to inform him that his slightly estranged son has committed a murder and gone on the run with a girlfriend.
Taking an unusual angle on a familiar story, this stays away from the fleeing couple and refuses to explain the original crime, concentrating on the changing attitudes of the bewildered but devoted father and the strangely sympathetic cops who include him in their investigation. The resolution, with Noiret finally establishing a rapport with his imprisoned son, is oddly affecting, and there is a lot of quiet strangeness along the road.