The Watchmaker of St. Paul
Synopsis
Michel Descombes is a watchmaker who lives in Lyon with his teenage son Bernard. When the police visit and inform him that Bernard has killed a man and is on the run with a girl, Michel realises that he knew far less about his son than he thought.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 30
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Help complete this page
We’re missing runtime (minutes), logline. Sign in to add what you know.
Cast & Crew
30 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Philippe Noiret
as Michel Descombes
Jean Rochefort
as Commissioner Guilboud
Jacques Denis
as Antoine, friend of Michel
Yves Afonso
as Inspector Bricard
Julien Bertheau
as Edouard, friend of Michel
Jacques Hilling
as Costes, journalist
Clotilde Joano
as Janine Boitard, journalist
Andree Tainsy
as Madeleine Fourmet
William Sabatier
as Lawyer
Cecile Vassort
as Martine, workwoman
Sylvain Rougerie
as Bernard Descombes, Michel's son
Christine Pascal
as Liliane Torrini, companion of Bernard
Supporting cast
18Liza Braconnier
as Housekeeper
Herve Morel
as Bricard's assistant
Sacha Bauer
as Judge
Bernard Frangin
as Johannes
Georges Baconnier
as Lucien
Rene Morard
as 1st plumber
Henri Vart
as 2nd plumber
Johnny Wesseler
as 1st strong man
Tiffany Tavernier
as Little girl on the train
Monique Chaumette
as Mrs. Torrini (uncredited)
Albert Husson
as Lucien (uncredited)
Paul Mercey
as Mr. Torrini (uncredited)
Pierre William Glenn
as Cyclist (uncredited)
Janine Berdin
as (uncredited)
Jacqueline Corot
as (uncredited)
Jean Marigny
as (uncredited)
Henri Pasquale
as (uncredited)
Andre San Fratello
as (uncredited)
Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
Official ratings
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Live · bot-verified- The Criterion ChannelStream
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for The Watchmaker of St. Paul yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for The Watchmaker of St. Paul yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on The Watchmaker of St. Paul?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on The Watchmaker of St. Paul.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for The Watchmaker of St. Paul yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on The Watchmaker of St. PaulNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…