Play Time

Play Time

Director: Jacques Tati. 

Written By: Jacques Tati, Jacques Lagrange and Art Buchwald.

Photography: Jean Badal and Andrés Winding.  

Starring: Jacques Tati, Leon Doyen and Georges. 

Year:1967

Country: France 

It's hard to get laughs from French comedies sometimes. films like Le Dîner de Cons are brilliant but you don't get the sense of comic timing when you have to read subtitles. With Play Time you don't get that problem because about 80% of the movie is dialogue free. And half the dialogue that is in it is English.

 Play Time is a charming satire of modern life (Or at least modern life as in was in the '60s). Satire is usually quite fierce and takes a vicious bite, Play Time however is quite quaint and is more like a cheeky poke than a Hang, Drawn and Quartering    

 The first half of the movie, which is the superior half, sees Jacques Tati's recurring character, Monsieur Hulot getting lost in a elaborately designed office block. The second half follows the disastrous opening night of new five star restaurant, that's still under construction. 

 At a glance you might think Play Time as a quirky little French comedy, but it's effectively an epic. Shot on 70mm film and, due to the size of the sets it required, it took three years to produce, starting in 1964. 

 What's incredible about Play Time, much like Star Trek, it predicted so much. For example when Monsieur Hulot is running through the levels of the incomprehensible building, he see's all the workers working solitary in their own tiny square boxes. This was 20 years before the office block structure was introduced into workplaces.

 Play Time is a delightful physical comedy which is wonderfully choreographed. And I can see it becoming an annual viewing pleasure of mine.  

Score: 5/5