''Playtime'' (stylized as ''PlayTime'' and also written as ''Play Time'') is a 1967
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, film-maker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted the 46th greatest of all time ...
. In the film, Tati again plays
Monsieur Hulot
Monsieur Hulot is a character created and played by French comic Jacques Tati for a series of films in the 1950s and '60s, namely ''Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot'' (1953), ''Mon Oncle'' (1958), ''Playtime'' (1967) and ''Trafic'' (1971). The cha ...
, the popular character who had central roles in his earlier films ''
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot
''Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot'' (french: Les Vacances de M. Hulot; released as ''Monsieur Hulot's Holiday'' in the US) is a 1953 French comedy film starring and directed by Jacques Tati. It introduced the pipe-smoking, well-meaning but clumsy c ...
'' and ''
Mon Oncle
''Mon Oncle'' (; ''My Uncle'') is a 1958 comedy film by French filmmaker Jacques Tati. The first of Tati's films to be released in colour, ''Mon Oncle'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Special Prize at the 1958 Cannes Fil ...
''. However, Tati grew ambivalent towards playing Hulot as a recurring central role during production; he appears intermittently in ''Playtime'', alternating between central and supporting roles.
Shot on
70 mm
70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...
, the work is notable for its enormous
set
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
, 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.
''Playtime'' is considered Tati's masterpiece and his most daring work. In 2012, ''Playtime'' was 43rd on the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
's critics' list and 37th in their directors' list of "
Top 100 Greatest Films of All Time". The film was a financial failure upon release but is now widely regarded as
one of the greatest films of all time.
Plot
''Playtime'' is set in a
futuristic
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
, hyper-
consumerist
''Consumerist'' (also known as ''The Consumerist'') was a non-profit consumer affairs website owned by Consumer Media LLC, a subsidiary of ''Consumer Reports'', with content created by a team of full-time reporters and editors. The site's focu ...
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. The story is structured in six sequences, linked by two characters who repeatedly encounter one another over the course of a day: Barbara, a young American tourist visiting Paris with an American tourist group, and Monsieur Hulot, a befuddled Frenchman lost in the new modernity of Paris. The sequences are as follows:
* The Airport: The American tour group arrives at the ultra-modern and impersonal
Orly Airport
Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly an ...
.
* The Offices: M. Hulot arrives at one of the glass and steel buildings for an important meeting but gets lost in a maze of disguised rooms and offices, eventually stumbling into a
trade exhibition
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and cu ...
of lookalike business office designs and furniture nearly identical to those in the rest of the building.
* The Trade Exhibition: M. Hulot and the American tourists are introduced to the latest modern gadgets, including a door that slams "in golden silence" and a broom with headlights, while the Paris of legend goes all but unnoticed save for a flower-seller's stall and a single reflection of the
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
Locally nicknamed "'' ...
in a glass door.
* The Apartments: As night falls, M. Hulot meets an old friend who invites him to his sparsely furnished, ultra-modern and glass-fronted flat. This sequence is filmed entirely from the street, observing M. Hulot and other building residents through uncurtained floor-to-ceiling picture windows.
* The Royal Garden: This sequence takes up almost the entire second half of the film. At the restaurant, M. Hulot reunites with several characters he has periodically encountered during the day, along with a few new ones, including a nostalgic ballad singer and a boisterous American businessman.
* The Carousel of Cars: M. Hulot buys Barbara two small gifts as mementos of Paris before her departure. In the midst of a complex ballet of cars in a traffic circle, the tourists' bus returns to the airport.
Cast
When possible, Tati cast nonprofessionals. He wanted people whose inner essence matched their characters and who could move in the way he wanted.
*
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, film-maker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted the 46th greatest of all time ...
as
Monsieur Hulot
Monsieur Hulot is a character created and played by French comic Jacques Tati for a series of films in the 1950s and '60s, namely ''Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot'' (1953), ''Mon Oncle'' (1958), ''Playtime'' (1967) and ''Trafic'' (1971). The cha ...
* Barbara Dennek as Barbara, a young American tourist
* Jacqueline Lecomte as Barbara's travel companion
* Valérie Camille as Mr. Lacs's secretary
* France Rumilly as a seller of eyeglasses
* Laure Paillette as 1st lady at the lamppost
* Colette Proust as 2nd lady at the lamppost
* Erica Dentzler as Mrs. Giffard
* Yvette Ducreux as coat check girl
* Rita Maiden as Mr. Schultz's companion
* Nicole Ray as the nostalgic ballad singer
* Luce Bonifassy as a customer at Royal Garden
* Evy Cavallaro as a customer at Royal Garden
*
Alice Field
Alice Field (1903–1969) was a French Algerian stage and film actress.Goble p.322
Partial filmography
* ''Villa Destin'' (1921)
* ''Visages voilés... âmes closes'' (1921) - La seconde épouse de Hadji
* ''Atlantis'' (1930) - Madame Lambert
* ...
as a customer at Royal Garden
* Eliane Firmin-Didot as a customer at Royal Garden
* Ketty France as a customer at Royal Garden
* Nathalie Jam as a customer at Royal Garden
* Olivia Poli as a customer at Royal Garden
* Sophie Wennek as tour guide
* Henri Piccoli as an Important Man
* Léon Doyen as the doorman
* Georges Montant as Mr. Giffard
*
John Abbey as Mr. Lacs
*
Reinhard Kolldehoff
Reinhard Kolldehoff (29 April 1914 – 18 November 1995) was a German film actor. He appeared in 140 films between 1941 and 1988. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany.
Selected filmography
* '' The Gasman'' (1941) - Polizeibeamter (uncr ...
as the German director
* Grégoire Katz as the German salesman
* Marc Monjou as the false Mr. Hulot
*
Yves Barsacq
Yves Barsacq (17 June 1931 – 4 October 2015) was a French film actor, who appeared in more than 150 films. He is the son of the French-Russian production designer Léon Barsacq and the nephew of the French theatre director André Barsacq.
...
as Mr. Hulot's old acquaintance
*
Billy Kearns
Billy Kearns (17 February 1923 – 28 November 1992) was an American actor.
Biography
During World War II, Kearns fought in the Army's newly founded 10th Mountain Division created for fighting in mountainous areas. His acting career took place ...
as Mr. Schulz, the American businessman
* Michel Francini as head waiter
*
Peter Lennon
Peter Gerard Lennon (28 February 1930 – 18 March 2011) was an Irish journalist and film director, probably best known as director of the social history documentary film ''Rocky Road to Dublin''. He worked for ''The Guardian'' newspaper for ...
as guide leading US businessmen
Production
The film is famous for its enormous, specially constructed set and background stage, known as 'Tativille', which contributed significantly to the film's large budget, said to be 17 million francs (which would have been roughly 3.4 million US dollars in 1964). The set required a hundred workers to construct along with its own power plant. Budget crises and other disasters stretched the shooting schedule to three years, including 1.4 million francs in repairs after the set was damaged by storms.
Tati observed, correctly, that the cost of building the set was no greater than what it would have cost to have hired
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
or
Sophia Loren
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...
for the leading role.
Budget overruns forced Tati to take out large loans and personal overdrafts to cover ever-increasing production costs.
As ''Playtime'' depended greatly on visual comedy and sound effects, Tati chose to shoot the film using high-resolution
70 mm film, and a stereophonic soundtrack that was complex for its time.
To save money, some of the building facades and the interior of the Orly set were actually giant photographs. (The photographs also had the advantage of not reflecting the camera or lights.) The Paris landmarks Barbara sees reflected in the glass door are also photographs. Tati also used life-sized cutout photographs of people to save money on extras. These cutouts are noticeable in some of the cubicles when Hulot overlooks the maze of offices, and in the deep background in some of the shots at ground level from one office building to another.
Style
Tati wanted the film to be in color but look like it was filmed in black and white – an effect he had previously employed to some extent in ''Mon Oncle''. The predominant colors are shades of grey, blue, black, and greyish white. Green and red are used as occasional accent colors: for example, the greenish hue of patrons lit by a neon sign in a sterile and modern lunch counter, or the flashing red light on an office intercom. It has been said that Tati had one red item in every shot.
Except for a single flower stall, there are no genuine green plants or trees on the set, though dull plastic plants adorn the outer balconies of some buildings, including the restaurant (the one location shot apart from the road to the airport). Thus, when the character of ''Barbara'' arrives at the Royal Garden restaurant in an emerald green dress seen as 'dated' by the other whispering female patrons clothed in dark attire, she visually contrasts not only with the other diners, but also with the entire physical environment of the film. As the characters in the restaurant scene begin to lose their normal social inhibitions and revel in the unraveling of their surroundings, Tati intensifies both color and lighting accordingly: late arrivals to the restaurant are less conservative, arriving in vibrant, often patterned clothing.
Tati detested close-ups, considering them crude, and shot in
65mm film
70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...
so that all the actors and their physical movements would be visible, even when they were in the far background of a group scene. He used sound rather than visual cues to direct the audience's attention; with the large image size, sound could be both high and low in the image as well as left and right.
As with most Tati films, sound effects were utilized to intensify comedic effect;
Leonard Maltin wrote that Tati was the "only man in movie history to get a laugh out of the hum of a neon sign!" Almost the entire film was
dubbed after shooting; the editing process took nine months.
Philip Kemp has described the film's plot as exploring "how the curve comes to reassert itself over the straight line".
This progression is carried out in numerous ways. At the beginning of the film, people walk in straight lines and turn on right angles. Only working-class construction workers (representing Hulot's 'old Paris', celebrated in ''
Mon Oncle
''Mon Oncle'' (; ''My Uncle'') is a 1958 comedy film by French filmmaker Jacques Tati. The first of Tati's films to be released in colour, ''Mon Oncle'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Special Prize at the 1958 Cannes Fil ...
'') and two music-loving teenagers move in a curvaceous and naturally human way. Some of this robotlike behavior begins to loosen in the restaurant scene near the end of the film, as the participants set aside their assigned roles and learn to enjoy themselves after a plague of opening-night disasters.
Throughout the film, the American tourists are continually lined up and counted, though Barbara keeps escaping and must be frequently called back to conform with the others. By the end, she has united the curve and the line (Hulot's gift, a square scarf, is fitted to her round head); her straight bus ride back to the airport becomes lost in a seemingly endless traffic circle that has the atmosphere of a
carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
ride.
The extended apartment sequence, where Tati's character visits a friend and tours his apartment, is notable. Tati keeps his audience outside of the apartment as we look inside the lives of these characters. In September 2012, ''Interiors'', an online journal that is concerned with the relationship between architecture and film, released an issue that discussed how space is used in this scene. The issue highlights how Tati uses the space of the apartment to create voyeurs out of his audience.
Reception
On its original French release, ''Playtime'' was acclaimed by most critics. It was commercially unsuccessful, failing to earn back a significant portion of its production costs. The film was entered into the
6th Moscow International Film Festival
The 6th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 22 July 1969. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Cuban film ''Lucía'' directed by Humberto Solás, the Italian film '' Serafino'' directed by Pietro Germi and the Soviet film ''W ...
where it won a Silver Prize.
Results were the same upon the film's eventual release in the U.S. in 1973 (even though it had finally been converted to a 35 mm format at the insistence of U.S. distributors and edited down to 103 minutes). Though
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called ''Playtime'' "Tati's most brilliant film", it was no more a commercial success in the U.S. than in France. Debts incurred as a result of the film's cost overruns eventually forced Tati to file for bankruptcy.
''Playtime'' is regarded as a great achievement by many critics. The film holds a 98% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A remarkable achievement, ''Playtime'' packs every scene with sight gags and characters that both celebrates and satirizes the urbanization of modern life."
References
External links
*
*
*
''PlayTime''a video essay by
David Cairns at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
*
DVD Talkbr>
review of the 2006 Criterion DVD, and comparison with the 2001 versionMy holiday with Monsieur Hulot(
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, 2003)
{{Jacques Tati
1967 films
French comedy films
French satirical films
1967 comedy films
Films directed by Jacques Tati
Films set in Paris
1960s German-language films
1960s French-language films
Films set in airports
1960s English-language films
1960s French films