One of the great, sui generis talents in film history, Jacques Tati combined a silent-era comedy style with sophisticated sound design and delightfully intricate screen compositions, playing with the cinematic form like a wonderful wind-up toy. His signature screen character, Monsieur Hulot (played by Tati himself), endeavors to live a simple life amid the many encroachments of society--modern architecture, noise pollution, advertising and automobiles. Tati's three greatest films exploring these environmental concerns--MY UNCLE, PLAYTIME and TRAFFIC--are screening as part of the Environmental Film Festival, with Tati's remaining films screened in a sidebar retrospective, including a newly restored 35mm print of M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY.

Special thanks to Janus Films, the French Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of France in Washington, DC, for making this series possible.

AFI Member passes will be accepted at all films in the Tati series.

All films in French with English subtitles unless otherwise noted.

M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY
[Les vacances de M. Hulot]
Brand new 35mm print!
One-week run, March 19 - 25!
See Calendar or click Buy Tickets button below to view daily showtimes

Official Selection 1953 Cannes Film Festival
Nominated for Best Screenplay, 1956 Oscars

While on holiday at a seaside resort, Monsieur Hulot - Jacques Tati's endearing, pipe-smoking clown - finds his presence provoking one catastrophe after another. A wildly funny satire of vacationers determined to enjoy themselves, the first entry in the Hulot series includes a series of brilliantly choreographed sight gags about boats, dogs, tennis, and other hazards of leisure. Janus Films is proud to present this masterpiece of gentle slapstick in a new restoration.

The restoration of M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY was fully funded and managed by Fondation Groupama Gan and Thomson Foundation, with les Films de Mon Oncle (rights Owners); and has been made at Technicolor Creative Services (Thomson) in Los Angeles, with the support of the Cinémathèque française.

DIR/SCR/PROD Jacques Tati; SCR Henri Marquet; PROD Fred Orain. France, 1953, b&w, 88 min. In English and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Official websites: janusfilms.com/hulot and criterion.com/films/360
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HOLIDAY
[Jour de fête]

Tati's first feature, this film, revolves around the trials and travails of a bumbling village postman who, inspired by drink and a documentary about the modernist efficiency of the American postal service, hatches a series of experiments to speed up his own delivery by bicycle. (Note courtesy of George Eastman House.)

DIR/SCR Jacques Tati; SCR Henri Marquet, René Wheeler; PROD Fred Orain, André Paulvé. France, 1949, b&w, 79 min. NOT RATED

Fri, Mar 19, 7:00; Sat, Mar 20, 5:15

MY UNCLE
[Mon oncle]

Denizen of a jaunty old quarter of Paris, Tati's Monsieur Hulot goes to visit his nephew, a plastics manufacturer, in an ultramodern "functional" house where the inmates are often prisoners of their own gadgets, the kitchen resembles an operating room, and the garden is all straight lines. (Note courtesy of National Gallery of Art.)

DIR/SCR/PROD Jacques Tati; SCR Jacques Lagrange, Jean L'Hùte. France/Italy, 1958, color, 116 min. NOT RATED

Fri, Mar 19, 8:45; Tue, Mar 23, 7:00

PLAYTIME
70mm Print!

A gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedy about confusion in the age of technology, this classic film thrusts the endearing, clumsy, resolutely old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a bafflingly modernist Paris. Crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, this film is a lasting testament to a modern age tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion. A monumental achievement, the nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production represented the creative apex of this genre. (Note courtesy of The Criterion Collection.)

DIR/SCR Jacques Tati; SCR Jacques Lagrange; PROD Bernard Marice. France/Italy, 1967, color, 124 min. In English, German and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Sat, Mar 20, 7:00; Sun, Mar 21, 5:00

TRAFFIC
[Trafic]

In this film, the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, outfitted as always with tan raincoat, beaten brown hat and umbrella, takes to Paris's highways and byways. For this, his final outing, Hulot is employed as an auto company's director of design, and accompanies his new vehicle (a camper tricked out with absurd gadgetry) to an auto show in Amsterdam. Naturally, the road is paved with modern-age mishaps. This late-career delight is a masterful demonstration of the comic genius's expert timing and sidesplitting visual gags, and a bemused last look at technology run amok. (Note courtesy of The Criterion Collection.)

DIR/SCR Jacques Tati; SCR Jacques Lagrange, Bert Haanstra; PROD Robert Dorfmann. France/Italy, 1971, color, 97 min. RATED G

Sun, Mar 21, 7:30; Mon, Mar 22, 7:00

Tati Shorts Program — FREE!

In SOIGNE TON GAUCHE [roughly, "Keep Up Your Left"], directed by René Clement (FORBIDDEN GAMES, PURPLE NOON), Tati appears as a farmer who unfortunately realizes his dream of becoming a boxer; in SCHOOL FOR POSTMEN [L'École des Facteurs], a kind of dry-run for JOUR DE FETE, Tati plays a letter carrier who aspires to be as fast as American mailmen; and in EVENING CLASSES [Cours de Soir] Tati displays his amazing talents for pantomime for a group of unenthusiastic students. (Note courtesy of George Eastman House.)

SOIGNE TON GAUCHE
DIR René Clement. France, 1936, b&w, 20 min. NOT RATED

SCHOOL FOR POSTMEN [L'École des Facteurs]
DIR Jacques Tati. France, 1947, b&w, 20 min. NOT RATED

EVENING CLASSES [Cours de Soir]
DIR Nicolas Ribowski. France, 1967, b&w, 30 min. NOT RATED

Sunday, April 18, 1:00

Tickets are FREE and available at the box office on the day of the show only; limit 4 per person.

PARADE

For the first time since his feature debut, Tati isn't playing the iconic M. Hulot; nor is he really the star. Instead, the comic master turns an almost documentary eye toward life under the big top. Clowns tumble and acrobats twirl, and in the middle of it all, ringmaster Tati performs several classic mimes. Tati's final feature returns him to his music hall roots and serves as a fitting farewell. "It's a sublime and awesome coda to the career of one this century's greatest artists." – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader (Note courtesy of George Eastman House.)

DIR/SCR Jacques Tati; PROD Karl Haskel. France/Sweden, 1974, color, 84 min. NOT RATED

Sun, Mar 28, 3:00