I rank "Mon Oncle" among the greatest films of all time.



Tati: celebrating France's comic genius of film

Tue Jul 5, 3:27 PM ET

Newly restored copies of Jacques Tati's 1958 masterpiece "My Uncle" ("Mon
Oncle"), including an original English version missing for decades, premiere
in Paris on Wednesday, part of the run up to a centennial celebration of
France's great comic film genius.

Inspired by the silent era gags of Buster Keaton and the wry humor W.C.
Fields, both giants of American comedy, Tati forged in the 1940s and 1950s a
comic universe all his own.

At its center is Tati's alter ego and anti-modern hero, the unflappable,
unfailingly polite Monsieur Hulot.

Armed with his signature pipe and trench coat, the gracefully bumbling Hulot
embodies for Tati a noble but loosing struggle against the dehumanizing
forces of modern management and unbridled consumerism.

In "My Uncle," the second in a quartet of Hulot films spanning two decades,
these corrupting trends are embodied in our hero's brother-in-law and
sister, he a preening executive in a rubber hose factory, she a fastidious
housewife reigning over an austere and ultra-automated modern house ripped
straight from the pages of a trendy architecture magazine.

The unemployed Hulot lives in an makeshift, roof-top apartment in a run-down
part of town full of scruffy dogs and even scruffier children, a real French
neighborhood where lifelong neighbors bargain and bicker in the market, and
greet every passerby.

This is Tati's paradise, an endangered natural habitat soon to be
steam-rollered by the American-inspired forces of Progress with a capital
"P".

His Hulot feels out of place in this sterile brave new world, expressing not
so much contempt but bewilderment at its misplaced values.

"You don't seem to be able to adjust," his brother-in-law says with a mix of
exasperation and pity when Hulot gets himself fired after one day at the
rubber hose factory.

Tati's films are short of plot and even shorter on dialogue, driven instead
by painstaking composition of image, an original use of sound and a visual
comedies-of-error that never fail to surprise.

But "My Uncle" does have a dramatic core, the struggle for the soul of
Hulot's young nephew Gerard, chided by his humorless parents for exactly the
qualities Hulot encourages by his very being: playfulness, humility, joie de
vivre.

The English version -- thought to be lost until a tattered copy was found by
accident and restored -- is more than a curiosity, and Tati spent a year in
post-production making it.

Much of what is lampooned in "My Uncle" came from the late 1950's America of
big, shiny cars and full-throated consumerism, and Tati clearly intended to
confront the Anglo-Saxon world with his judgment on it excesses.

The film was, in fact, both a critical and a commercial success, garnering
the special jury prize at the Cannes film festival in 1958 and a best
foreign film Oscar the following year.

The rights to the entire Tati oeuvre were purchased not long ago by
relatives and friends of the film maker, who died in 1982 penniless after
his later films -- critically acclaimed -- flopped at the box office.

Their association (www.tativille.com) is refurbishing his work reel-by-reel,
partly in preparation for the 2007 centennial of his birth, when Tati's
comic genius will be celebrated in various events around the world.

We don't really care about what you rank

"Earl Evleth" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message de news:
BEF155C0.6F07A%[email protected]...
    > I rank "Mon Oncle" among the greatest films of all time.
    > Tati: celebrating France's comic genius of film
    > Tue Jul 5, 3:27 PM ET
    > Newly restored copies of Jacques Tati's 1958 masterpiece "My Uncle" ("Mon
    > Oncle"), including an original English version missing for decades,
    > premiere
    > in Paris on Wednesday, part of the run up to a centennial celebration of
    > France's great comic film genius.
    > Inspired by the silent era gags of Buster Keaton and the wry humor W.C.
    > Fields, both giants of American comedy, Tati forged in the 1940s and 1950s
    > a
    > comic universe all his own.
    > At its center is Tati's alter ego and anti-modern hero, the unflappable,
    > unfailingly polite Monsieur Hulot.
    > Armed with his signature pipe and trench coat, the gracefully bumbling
    > Hulot
    > embodies for Tati a noble but loosing struggle against the dehumanizing
    > forces of modern management and unbridled consumerism.
    > In "My Uncle," the second in a quartet of Hulot films spanning two
    > decades,
    > these corrupting trends are embodied in our hero's brother-in-law and
    > sister, he a preening executive in a rubber hose factory, she a fastidious
    > housewife reigning over an austere and ultra-automated modern house ripped
    > straight from the pages of a trendy architecture magazine.
    > The unemployed Hulot lives in an makeshift, roof-top apartment in a
    > run-down
    > part of town full of scruffy dogs and even scruffier children, a real
    > French
    > neighborhood where lifelong neighbors bargain and bicker in the market,
    > and
    > greet every passerby.
    > This is Tati's paradise, an endangered natural habitat soon to be
    > steam-rollered by the American-inspired forces of Progress with a capital
    > "P".
    > His Hulot feels out of place in this sterile brave new world, expressing
    > not
    > so much contempt but bewilderment at its misplaced values.
    > "You don't seem to be able to adjust," his brother-in-law says with a mix
    > of
    > exasperation and pity when Hulot gets himself fired after one day at the
    > rubber hose factory.
    > Tati's films are short of plot and even shorter on dialogue, driven
    > instead
    > by painstaking composition of image, an original use of sound and a visual
    > comedies-of-error that never fail to surprise.
    > But "My Uncle" does have a dramatic core, the struggle for the soul of
    > Hulot's young nephew Gerard, chided by his humorless parents for exactly
    > the
    > qualities Hulot encourages by his very being: playfulness, humility, joie
    > de
    > vivre.
    > The English version -- thought to be lost until a tattered copy was found
    > by
    > accident and restored -- is more than a curiosity, and Tati spent a year
    > in
    > post-production making it.
    > Much of what is lampooned in "My Uncle" came from the late 1950's America
    > of
    > big, shiny cars and full-throated consumerism, and Tati clearly intended
    > to
    > confront the Anglo-Saxon world with his judgment on it excesses.
    > The film was, in fact, both a critical and a commercial success, garnering
    > the special jury prize at the Cannes film festival in 1958 and a best
    > foreign film Oscar the following year.
    > The rights to the entire Tati oeuvre were purchased not long ago by
    > relatives and friends of the film maker, who died in 1982 penniless after
    > his later films -- critically acclaimed -- flopped at the box office.
    > Their association (www.tativille.com) is refurbishing his work
    > reel-by-reel,
    > partly in preparation for the 2007 centennial of his birth, when Tati's
    > comic genius will be celebrated in various events around the world.
    >

Earl Evleth writes:

    > I rank "Mon Oncle" among the greatest films of all time.

I find his work hard to watch because he didn't even seem to have the
budget for synchronized sound.

On Thu, 07 Jul 2005 01:29:15 +0200, Mxsmanic <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >Earl Evleth writes:
    >> I rank "Mon Oncle" among the greatest films of all time.
    >I find his work hard to watch because he didn't even seem to have the
    >budget for synchronized sound.

He was really a silent comedian making movies thirty years too
late.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen writes:

    > He was really a silent comedian making movies thirty years too
    > late.

Perhaps. I always simply assumed that he lacked the necessary budget;
I can't see an advantage to post-dubbing sound instead of recording it
during principal photography.

On 7/07/05 9:55, in article [email protected],
"Mxsmanic" <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Perhaps. I always simply assumed that he lacked the necessary budget;
    > I can't see an advantage to post-dubbing sound instead of recording it
    > during principal photography.


The English version of Mon Oncle was filmed separately with original
English dialog. So its being brought back is not an artificial
construct, replacing dubbing on the original French.

Tati's dialogs were always low in tone, in the back ground.

His first film, le Jour de Fete was originally showing in black
and white but it was co-filmed in color. The color version was
recovered and shown about 5 or 10 years ago.

I first saw Mr. Hulot's holiday in the 50s, and thought it
was hilarious. Later I saw it on TV and it was definitely
"not funny". Then I saw it again on "big screen" and it was
as funny as the first time. I needed either the ambiance
of other people in the salle or the big screen.

I did not find Traffic or Play time as good and feel that
Mon Oncle was his best.

Earl

Earl Evleth writes:

    > The English version of Mon Oncle was filmed separately with original
    > English dialog. So its being brought back is not an artificial
    > construct, replacing dubbing on the original French.

The original French was dubbed as well, as I recall.