Product Information
Monsieur Hulot struggles once more against modernity in this comic take on the gadgets and other 'conveniences' of city life.Product Identifiers
EAN5055201828132
eBay Product ID (ePID)2319602519
Product Key Features
ActorJacques Tati, Sharon Maiden, Barbara Dennek
Film/TV TitlePlaytime
DirectorJacques Tati
LanguageFrench
Subtitle LanguageEnglish
Run Time115 Mins
Release Year2014
FormatDVD
FeaturesBlack & White, With Subtitles
GenreGeneral, Comedy
Additional Product Features
Number of Discs1
CertificateU
Country/Region of ManufactureFrance
Additional InformationJacques Tati's spectacular cinematic art reached its peak in the gargantuan achievement of this film, PLAYTIME. Marking the third appearance of Tati's Mr. Magoo-like character, Mr. Hulot, PLAYTIME takes as its subject modern technology and its sometimes disastrous and always hilarious effects on the people living within it. As in most Tati films, a minimal plot (the parallel paths of Hulot and a group of American tourists), is held together by a seamless ballet of visual, aural, and conceptual gags. Tati constructed an enormous set, Tativille, rendering a high modern contemporary Paris decked in chrome, mirrors, and glass within which the surreal slapstick of PLAYTIME unfolds. Filmed in 70mm Technicolor, with sound recorded on a seven-channel stereo, the film approaches the city from a bird's eye perspective showing the complex yet abstract machinations of people and their technologies, with each character linked to the other and the whole ensemble dependant on the giant grid of the modern city. Objects, people, and sounds vie for the viewer's attention and all exert equal fascination and comedic power in the circus of Tati's modern life. From the airport to the high rise to the nightclub, Hulot weaves in and out of view, leaving a trail of bumped heads, offended sensibilities and curious glances in his wake
ReviewsEvening Standard - ...An unusually intelligent, ingenious, witty and wholly individual movie..., Time Out - ...This jewel of Tati's career is a hallucinatory comic vision...
Sound sourceDolby Digital
Movie/TV TitlePlaytime
Consumer AdviceContains no material likely to offend or harm