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.
| 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 |
| 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 |
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By September 04, 2006
I 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 Read more »
By December 02, 2010
Jacques Tati’s Playtime (1968) opens in a shiny space: nuns breeze past; a woman in a white uniform clacks through, bearing towels; a baby cries. People wait. The feeling is “hospital Read more »
By April 22, 2009
Some of you might have seen the news item on our website regarding the Jacques Tati “centennial-plus” and the exhibits around Paris paying homage to the inventive filmmaker. I had the good fortune Read more »
April 27, 2010
French animator Sylvain Chomet, whose idiosyncratic, elegant, hand-drawn style and quirky approach to narrative were introduced to American viewers in 2003’s The Triplets of Belleville, is returning to Read more »
June 10, 2009
There’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 Lagrange, a somewhat Read more »
