Film Review | Monsieur Hulot's Holiday and Playtime by Jacques Tati

Monday, November, 13th at 14.30 by Katharine Barrau

Fans of Jacques Tati have long known that the gangly comic, born Jacques Tatischeff in 1907, was a master of the visual comic’s art form.

For many he’s up there with Chaplin both in his comedic pratfalls and scripted set-ups. But beyond the gags there was also a deeper social commentary at work.

His first feature Jour de Fête (1949) may have appeared to be about a hapless postman’s attempt to get the mail delivered on time during a village party but a deeper reading shows Tati’s observation about technology and modernity catching up with a reluctant and sleepy rural France.

On a similar note, the director’s acknowledged masterpiece, Playtime, which bankrupted him, was a satire on how modernism is a barrier to human interaction. It intermittently features the presence of Monsieur Hulot, a bumbling, mumbling and accident-prone, if well-meaning, pipe-smoker who first appeared in fabulous Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday in 1953.

The comedy, shot in St Marc-sur-Mer in Loire-Atlantique, gave Tati an international reputation (and gave the man himself an alter ego in Hulot) and it remains a huge favourite in lists of all-time movie greats. It also earned him an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

Both films are finally getting the treatment they deserve, with the BFI releasing a special dual format edition of each on DVD and Blu Ray. With superb extras including documentaries and a special international soundtrack on the 1978 cut of Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, the price of £19.99 seems like a snip.