Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

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Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

Film poster
Directed by Jacques Tati
Produced by Fred Orain
Written by Jacques Tati
Henri Marquet
Starring Jacques Tati
Nathalie Pascaud
Micheline Rolla
Release date(s) France February 25, 1953
USA June 16, 1954
Running time 114 min.
Language French
Followed by Mon Oncle
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (released as Monsieur Hulot's Holiday in the UK and as Mr. Hulot's Holiday in the USA), is one of Jacques Tati's most famous films, gaining an international reputation for its director upon its release in 1953. Les Vacances introduced the pipe-smoking, well-meaning but clumsy character of M. Hulot, who appears in a number of Tati's subsequent films, including Mon Oncle (1959), Playtime (1967), and Trafic (1971).

Les Vacances follows the adventures of M. Hulot (played by Tati himself) as he spends the mandatory August vacation at a beach resort. The film lampoons several hidebound elements of French political and social classes along the way.

The film was recorded with both French and English soundtracks. While Tati had experimented with color film in his previous film Jour de fête, Les Vacances is black and white. The jazz score, which includes the theme "Quel Temps Fait-Il A Paris"[1], is by Alain Romans.

Les Vacances earned Tati an Oscar nomination (shared with Henri Marquet) for Best Original Screenplay.

Les Vacances was filmed in the town of Saint-Marc-sur-Mer in the Loire-Atlantique region of France, and a bronze statue of M. Hulot was later erected overlooking the beach where the film was made.

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[edit] Critical reaction

On its release in the United States, Bosley Crowther's review said that the film contained "much the same visual satire that we used to get in the 'silent' days from the pictures of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and such as those." He said the film "exploded with merriment" and that Tati "is a long-legged, slightly pop-eyed gent whose talent for caricaturing the manners of human beings is robust and intense.... There is really no story to the picture.... The dialogue... is at a minimum, and it is used just to satirize the silly and pointless things that summer people say. Sounds of all sorts become firecrackers, tossed in for comical point."[1]

[edit] Cast

  • Jacques Tati as Monsieur Hulot
  • Nathalie Pascaud as Martine
  • Micheline Rolla as The Aunt
  • Valentine Camax as Englishwoman
  • Louis Perrault as Fred
  • André Dubois as Commandant
  • Lucien Frégis as Hotel Proprietor
  • Raymond Carl as Waiter
  • René Lacourt as Strolling Man
  • Marguerite Gérard as Strolling Woman

[edit] References

  1. ^ Crowther, Bosley (1954), "The Screen in Review: French Satirical Film Opens at Fine Arts," The New York Times, June 17, 1954, p. 36.

[edit] External links

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Jacques Tati

Gai dimanche (1935) • L'École des facteurs (1947) • Jour de fête (1949) • Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953) • Mon Oncle (1958) • Play Time (1967) • Trafic (1971) • Parade (1974)