Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

Monday 5th October, start time 8:15   Reel Cinema, Andover 

Release: 1953 (Cert U)

Directors: Jacques Tati

Cast: Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Michele Rolla, Valentine Camax, Louis Perrault, André Dubois,
Lucien Fregis, Raymond Carl

Review: Here 

"It was the moment when I realised that comedy could be both funny and beautiful."

It’s France. It’s August. It’s holiday time. Everyone heads for the coast. Monsieur Hulot’s arrival at the Brittany resort is announced by the splutterings of his old car.

Hulot has been looking forward to this holiday and is determined to get the best out of it. Unfortunately, everything he attempts has a chaotic effect on his fellow holiday-makers. His boat scares swimmers in the water and his hotel is disrupted by a game of ping-pong. He even manages to get entangled in a funeral. These things don’t faze him.
  
That Hulot’s an innocent abroad and unaware of the consequences of his actions is the film’s running gag. But it doesn’t push the point. In fact, it doesn’t push any point. The film is a gentle study of human nature, presented as a series of almost unconnected events. 

Tati’s observational comedy is virtually free from dialogue. Music and sounds effects help the story along, sometimes directly and sometimes just to tell you what might be happening off screen. Tati prefers actions to words.   

Les Vacances de M. Hulot is one of those films you can watch over and over again. Everyone should see it at least once.

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