Playtime
by Jacques Tati
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Actor: Barbara Dennek, France Delahalle, France Rumilly, Jacques Tati, Rita MaidenDirector: Jacques Tati
Writer: Jacques Tati
Cinematographer: Andréas Winding
Cinematographer: Jean Badal
Producer: Bernard Maurice
Producer: René Silvera
Writer: Art Buchwald
Writer: Jacques Lagrange
DVD: Region Code 2
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); German (Original Language)
Format: PAL
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Reviews of Playtime
DVD Review: Tati's Masterpiece or Folly?
Summary: 5 Stars
French director Jacques Tati's fourth major film, and generally considered to be his most daring film. It was shot in 1964 through 1967 and released in 1967. Shot in 70 mm , Play Time is notable for its enormous set (often referred to as Tativille), which Tati had built specially for the film, as well as Tati's trademark use of subtle, yet complex visual comedy supported by creative sound effects; dialogue is frequently reduced to the level of background noise. On its original French release, Play Time was acclaimed by critics. However, it was commercially unsuccessful, failing to earn back a significant portion of its production costs
In Play Time, Tati's character, M. Hulot, and a group of American tourists attempt to navigate a futuristic Paris constructed of straight lines, modernist glass and steel high-rise buildings, multi-lane roadways, and cold, artificial furnishings. In this environment, only the irrepressible nonconformity of human nature and an occasional appreciation for the good old days breathe life into an otherwise sterile urban lifestyle. Modern industrial technologies, accepted as necessary by society, are represented by Tati as obstructions to daily life and an interference to natural human interaction.
Play Time is a very challenging film. Tati avaids the use of plot and dialogue to make his points. Using a static camera, Tati fills the 70mm frame with visual gags. Critics have called this a film thet the viewer browses rather than views. Tati himself said that the film needed multiple viewings from different places in the theatre before the average viewer would comprehend all of the films levels. I found this to be the case, there is just too much to watch to make this an easy film to sit through. The best method is to pay attention to the details that you want to see and let your eyes wander the frame looking for small bits of action or comedy in the margins. Tati said that if there was a plot it dealt with the supremacy of the curve over the straight line as represented by modern architecture.
The BFI release of this film is a good one. It offers the restored version of the film taken from the 70mm negative. The picture and sound quality are excellent. Also offered are a commentary by film historian Philip Kemp which provides good information on both the production and on Tati in general. The disc provides featurettes on the folly that was Tativille, a biographical short on Tati, production notes via a video interview with Tati's script girl and the usual BFI trailers on Tati's films. This is an excellent package and is well appreciated by Tati fans.
Description of Playtime
There's never been, and never will be, another comedy like Playtime. Three years in the making, French comedy master Jacques Tati's 1967 classic was an epic, experimental undertaking of unprecedented scale: Requiring the lavish construction of three entire city blocks of ultra-modern buildings, it was the most expensive French film up to that time, financially ruined its creator, baffled many viewers and critics when it was finally released after numerous delays, and is now regarded as Tati's undisputed masterpiece. Once again, Tati plays his comedic alter ego, the hapless M. Hulot (first seen in 1953's Mr. Hulot's Holiday), seen here as a befuddled pawn on a gigantic chessboard (metaphorically speaking) of modern conformity. He's simply trying to get to an appointment, but in the film's astonishing mock-Parisian landscape of antiseptic steel, glass, and plastic, Tati's resonant theme of contemporary confusion is fully expressed through meticulous use of framing and space--so effectively, in fact, that critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (in an accompanying essay) suggests that the film's dazzling "Royal Garden" sequence "may be the most formidable example of mise-en-scène in the history of cinema." With M. Hulot taking a back-seat to the film's breathtaking accumulation of visual details, Playtime (or, if you prefer, Play Time) rewards multiple viewings, revealing something new every time in its widescreen canvas of subtle gags and delirious eccentricity. Although journalist Art Buchwald provided English dialogue for the film, Playtime bears closer kinship to silent comedy, with universal humor and a musical soundtrack that's as essential as any of the visuals. Tati (1908-1982) never recovered from the film's financial failure, but happily, he lived long enough to see Playtime receive its much-deserved critical re-appraisal. --Jeff ShannonStills from Playtime (Click for larger image)
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