TATI’S RIGHT-HAND MAN
Jun 10, 2009There’s a cornucopia for Tati fans over at Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell’s blog, Observations on Film Art and Film Art. In a new entry, Thompson spotlights painter Jacques . . .
Synopsis
Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in the age of technology reached their creative apex with Playtime. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the endearingly clumsy, resolutely old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a bafflingly modernist Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lasting testament to a modern age tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.
Cast
| Monsieur Hulot | Jacques Tati |
| Young tourist | Barbara Dennek |
| Mr. Schultz’s companion | Rita Maïden |
| Woman selling eyeglasses | France Rumilly |
| Shopper in department store | France Delahalle |
| M. Luce’s secretary | Valérie Camille |
| Mme. Giffard | Erika Dentzler |
| Singer | Nicole Ray |
| Hat Check Girl | Yvette Ducreux |
| Mr. Lacs | John Abbey |
Credits
| Director | Jacques Tati |
| Cinematography | Jean Badal and Andréas Winding |
| Screenplay | Jacques Tati and Jacques Lagrange |
| English dialogue | Art Buchwald |
| Music | James Campbell and Francis Lemarque |
| Editing | Gérard Pollicand |
| Production Design | Eugène Roman |
| Sound | Jacques Maumont |
| Producer | Jacques Tati and Bernard Maurice |
Disc Features
AVAILABLE IN DOUBLE-DVD OR BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITIONS:
- All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer (uncompressed stereo soundtrack on Blu-ray edition)
- Video introduction by writer, director, and performer Terry Jones
- Selected scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp
- Au-delà de “Playtime,” a short documentary featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the production
- Tati Story, a short biographical film
- “Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot’s Work,” a 1976 BBC Omnibus program featuring Tati
- Rare audio interview with Tati from the U.S. debut of Playtime at the 1972 San Francisco International Film Festival (Courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives)
- Video interview with script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot
- Cours du soir, a 1967 short film written by and starring Tati
- Alternate international soundtrack
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
From the Current
APRIL IN TATIVILLE
by Apr 22, 2009Some of you might have seen the news item on our website regarding the Jacques Tati “centennial-plus” and the exhibits . . .
The Dance of Playtime
by Sep 4, 2006I suppose it could be argued that I saw Playtime for the first time in ideal circumstances—as an American tourist in Paris. Yet to argue this would mean overlooking the film’s suggestion that, like it or not, we’re all tourists nowadays—and all Americans in some fashion as well.
Playtime
by Jun 3, 2001After the success of Mon Oncle in 1958, Jacques Tati had become fed up with Monsieur Hulot, his signature comic creation. With international renown came a growing dissatisfaction with . . .
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