Playtime (The Criterion Collection)
by Jacques Tati
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Barbara Dennek, France Delahalle, France Rumilly, Jacques Tati, Rita MaidenDirector: Jacques Tati
Brand: Image Entertainment
Writer: Jacques Tati
Producer: Bernard Maurice
Writer: Art Buchwald
Writer: Jacques Lagrange
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-09-05
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Playtime (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Sometimes we cannot see what is right in front of our nose...
Summary: 5 Stars
`Playtime' is not a film for everyone so please be forewarned that my praising of this film may or may not mirror your sentiments if you ever decide to see this picture. `Playtime' is what I like to call an observational film. This is a picture that says a lot without ever really saying anything. The dialog is limited to overheard conversations and brief character interactions and is best thought of as background noise. In fact, Jacques Tati's moving film is best described as Robert Altman meets Charlie Chaplin; a moderately comedic film that lives and breathes within the audience's interpretation of the proceedings.
If ever a film defined the phrase `beauty is in the eye of the beholder', this is it.
The film is really, plot wise, about nothing. A man (Tati's comedic alter ego Monsieur Hulot) is trying desperately to make an appointment. Along the way he observes all that his beloved city has become. That is it; but that is all it needs to be.
The key to understanding and enjoying this film is by merely allowing yourself to watch without anticipation. Nothing that happens on the screen has any apparent significance but it is presented in order to reach you. The only way that this can happen is if you allow yourself to take it in and to contemplate its deeper meaning as is intended. What Tati was attempting to show us was the way in which we are affected so deeply by the changes in modern society. The film has even more significance today as we watch our present world changing before our very eyes. What is so stunning about Tati's final film is that it manages to provide insight to the viewer; a deeper understanding of things that he or she probably feels pretty sure of already.
As society becomes more and more fascinated with marketing itself they become less and less interested and simply living. Everything is done for the enjoyment of others; to make attract others and make them fascinated and comfortable; but in this action we give up who we are. We lose our honesty to a world of commercialism and thus become one in a million.
There is no individuality anymore.
Like I mentioned; this is not for everyone. Some may very well miss the point, and yet others who get the point may feel it is delivered in a less than conventional manor. That is true, for the films delivery is what may turn some off (like I stated, it seems to have no point). If you are interested in embracing a film for its artistic insight though, this is a film you will want to get your hands on. It's enlightening, intriguing and unforgettable.
Summary of Playtime (The Criterion Collection)
PLAYTIME - DVD MovieThere's never been, and never will be, another comedy like Playtime. Three years in the making, French comedy master Jacques Tati's 1967 classic was an epic, experimental undertaking of unprecedented scale: Requiring the lavish construction of three entire city blocks of ultra-modern buildings, it was the most expensive French film up to that time, financially ruined its creator, baffled many viewers and critics when it was finally released after numerous delays, and is now regarded as Tati's undisputed masterpiece. Once again, Tati plays his comedic alter ego, the hapless M. Hulot (first seen in 1953's Mr. Hulot's Holiday), seen here as a befuddled pawn on a gigantic chessboard (metaphorically speaking) of modern conformity. He's simply trying to get to an appointment, but in the film's astonishing mock-Parisian landscape of antiseptic steel, glass, and plastic, Tati's resonant theme of contemporary confusion is fully expressed through meticulous use of framing and space--so effectively, in fact, that critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (in an accompanying essay) suggests that the film's dazzling "Royal Garden" sequence "may be the most formidable example of mise-en-scène in the history of cinema." With M. Hulot taking a back-seat to the film's breathtaking accumulation of visual details, Playtime (or, if you prefer, Play Time) rewards multiple viewings, revealing something new every time in its widescreen canvas of subtle gags and delirious eccentricity. Although journalist Art Buchwald provided English dialogue for the film, Playtime bears closer kinship to silent comedy, with universal humor and a musical soundtrack that's as essential as any of the visuals. Tati (1908-1982) never recovered from the film's financial failure, but happily, he lived long enough to see Playtime receive its much-deserved critical re-appraisal. --Jeff Shannon
Stills from Playtime (Click for larger image)
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