Clockface Cafe (1947)

**THE FILM** (_Please note, the contents of this section reveal the film's entire plot_)

Julien Couturier (Bernard Blier) and his wife Louise (Blanchette Brunoy), a young couple from Auvergne who have come to Paris to try their luck for the first time in their lives, become the owners of the "Café du Cadran". On opening day, they meet the people who will become their customers. The place is packed with regulars, served by two waiters, Jules (Robert Le Fort) and Victor (Charles Vissières). Among the regulars are two journalists from the newspaper next door, one of whom, Biscarra (Robert Seller), is charmed by Louise's good looks. From now on, he'll be the first customer to open every day. Another regular is Grégorio (Félix Oudart), a truculent drunk who announces his arrival by blowing his horn. He's also the head hunter at the Café de Paris across the street, where the seductive Mr. Luigi (Aimé Clariond), a talented violinist, also hails from.

While Julien is at ease in his role as boss, Louise is not used to this to this urban world, where everything moves faster, especially human feelings. human feelings. She often misses Marcenat, the village in Auvergne where she where she and her husband ran the "Café du Commerce".

But Mr. Luigi has undertaken Louise's cultural education. He teaches her how to dress and do her hair, while recounting his musical successes and travels, skilfully playing on his undeniable seductiveness. Julien, happy to see his wife transformed in this way, suspects nothing of Luigi's activities, busy as he is setting up illegal betting operations under the influence of a mobster named Bianci (Pierre Sergeol). Julien's head is turned upside down when the drunkard Grégorio, who never sobers up, tells him that he saw Louise and Luigi enter a cabaret when the young woman was supposed to be having dinner at an aunt's house. Believing himself deceived, Julien shoots Louise as soon as he returns to the café.0 Fortunately, he only wounds her. And the young couple, finally back together, set off for Marcenat, selling "Le Café du Cardan" to new owners.

**THE STORY**

This is the first film directed by Jean Gehret, a Swiss-born filmmaker born in Geneva on January 10, 1900. J. Gehret left his hometown in 1927 to devote himself to his true passion, music. He was administrator of the _Concernts Poulet_, and from 1927 to 1931, of the Paris Symphony Orchestra. Then he was tempted by the cinema. Upstream, as an actor, in particular in several films by Jean Renoir, _La Chienne_ (1931), _Boudu sauvé des eaux_ (1932) and _La Nuit du Carrefour_ (1932). But also in those of Pierre Chenal: _Crime et châtiment_ (1935). Later, he was production manager on films by Jacques Becker, _Dernier atout_ (1942), _Fabalas_ (1945) and Pierre Prévert, _Adieu Léonard_ (1943).

After "Le Café du Cardran", supervised by Henri Decoin, Jean Gehret directed _Tabusse_ (1948), _Le Crime des justes_ (1948), _Orage d'été_ (1949). His last feature, _La Loterie du bonheur_ with Yves Deniaud, was shot in 1952. The filmmaker died in Paris on October 22, 1956, having made a short film _La Fête des vignerons_ in Switzerland a few months earlier.

According to Bernard Blier, the film's real director is Henri Decoin: "_It's a film that was made by a guy who didn't sign it. It was signed by a guy called Jean Gehret, who was a former production manager for Renoir. He was a very nice, very funny Swiss guy, but he couldn't be a director. So he signed the film that Decoin made. Because it was a time when Decoin and Clouzot were banned for collaboration, as they say. But neither of them were ever collaborators._"

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