In the 1950s and 1960s, Jacques Tati created four films (essentially silent) starring himself as Monsieur Hulot (a kind of updated and inverted take on Charlie Chaplin’s The Tramp) who is commonly seen navigating in his lurching manner around a modern world made lonelier by technology.
There was a time when The Criterion Collection had all of Tati’s Monsieur Hulot films in print. Alas, as happens periodically, some rights issues emerged a few years ago, the films were taken out of print, and I and many gave up hope that they’d ever come back. But then, there were exciting rumors that the Tati films would be back. When confirmation came, it was better than most had hoped: this week, not only are the Monsieur Hulot films that were put out of print returning to The Criterion Collection in new editions and restorations, but this is The Complete Jacques Tati, comprised of Tati’s six feature films and his seven short films.
The set is, predictably, loaded, including alternate versions of three of the films, as well as supplemental documentaries, visual essays, commentaries, interviews, etc. If you want to get to know Jacques Tati — and I’m excited to get to know him better — here you go.
These are the films included in the set:
- Jour de Fête (1949)
- Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
- Mon Oncle (1958)
- Playtime (1967)
- Trafic (1971)
- Parade (1974)
- Tati Shorts
- On demande une brute (1934)
- Gai dimanche (1935)
- Soigne ton guache (1936)
- L’école des facteurs (1946)
- Cours du soir (1967)
- Forza Bastia (1978)
- Degustation maison (1978)
The Mookse and the Gripes will be celebrating this release by going through the discs one by one. I hope some of you can join in.
First up, one that will be completely new to me: Jour de Fête.
“Essentially silent” is exactly incorrect for Tati’s films. Tati’s use of sound is a huge part of his art.
A very good point, herblevy. I was sloppy. When I said “essentially silent” I meant something more along the lines of “essentially sans dialogue, like the classic silents of the past.”
I was thrilled the other night to pop in Jour de fete and, though there is, relative to later Tati films, a fair amount of dialogue in French with subtitles, my two youngest sons (6 and 3) watched with me and had a blast.