Playtime (1967)

Directed by: Jacques Tati | 119 minutes | comedy | Actors: Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maiden, France Rumilly, France Delahalle, Valérie Camille, Erika Dentzler, Nicole Ray

‘Playtime’ was not fully appreciated at the time of its release. The film’s commentary on modern times was no longer always found to be so interesting and there is also a good chance that the film – which actually has no story and leaves much to the viewer’s own interpretation – was not understood by everyone. In any case, it became a commercial flop and Tati even lost the rights to all his own films after the film. Making ‘Playtime’ had also been a very expensive undertaking, with Tati going well over his initial budget. Not surprising when you consider that Tati built gigantic, elaborate sets especially for the film – including an airport, an office building, a restaurant, Parisian streets and a traffic roundabout – to control all the environments in great detail and from any desired location. corner to film. He had in fact realized his own city, which was nicknamed “Tativille”. Also, Tati’s lethargic filming pace – he filmed one or two scenes a day – did not help keep costs under control. Although the aftermath of ‘Playtime’ was quite a setback for Tati, luckily it all worked out in the end – at least from a film-historical point of view. Playtime has proved to be fantastic fodder for analysts, and the film is widely regarded as a masterpiece.

Fortunately, Tati has also recovered financially. Thanks in part to the support of admirer and colleague Bert Haanstra, he decided to make a film after the economic fiasco of ‘Playtime’. Fortunately, the resulting ‘Trafic’ brought in enough money, although this film was not rated as highly as ‘Playtime’, which Haanstra immediately thought was a masterpiece. He just thought that some pieces were a bit too long. Although the film’s status is unassailable and there is hardly a bad word among critics about ‘Playtime’, Haanstra’s last comment is understandable for most people, especially when the film is on video, or rather, on a small TV screen. is viewed rather than on a large screen in the original 70mm film print. Among other things, the lack of a story, the many variations on the same theme, and the prolonged use of a single location can cause a restless feeling in the viewer. On the one hand, it can certainly be said that in some cases Tati could have made the same point with shorter scenes – a drunken man who mistook the linework on a marble pillar for a city map does not need to be kept in view for so long; a wordless visit to the modern house of an old friend of Tati’s doesn’t have to take that long to grasp the visual metaphor of the house as a shop window, or the joke of the neighbors who seem to be watching each other while watching TV – but on the other hand ‘Playtime’ is also just a unique film that lets the viewer watch in a different way than usual. And that takes some getting used to.

When filming, Tati only used observational shots from a distance, no close-ups. He is especially interested in the whole, or rather, how the individual is part of this whole, and his images often behave like life-sized puzzles. Humor can often be found in the way people find themselves or move in an environment, contrasting with it or perfectly fitting. It is often not immediately clear what kind of space it is and the viewer is invited to look for clues themselves to solve the “puzzle”. As in the opening scene in an as yet unexplained, but large and clinical building where different kinds of people walk around, in both casual clothes and uniforms. A married couple is waiting in what could be a hospital waiting room – not unlikely since moments later a woman walks through the open hallway who appears to be dressed like a nurse. But there’s also a cop passing by, a cleaner, a couple of nuns, and a whole host of other characters. And the counters further up and the announcements are again strongly reminiscent of an airport. Moments later, an airplane can be seen outside the building through the windows, and letters above the main entrance confirm that it is indeed an airport, but the initial uncertainty about this gives the viewer a strong and interesting incentive to investigate for themselves. to go.

This observation pays off, because fun contrasts and visual jokes and peculiarities can be discovered everywhere. The business-like, “chilly” first half of the film, with episodes at the airport, in an office building and at a household fair, is very stimulating and keeps the attention constantly. There are several memorable scenes to mention: Tati (as Mr Hulot) has an appointment in a large office building and has to navigate an inefficient labyrinth of cubicles and with the help of staff who always help him a few meters further or just seems to be heading in the wrong direction. Brilliant is the scene in which Hulot has to wait in an alcove and next to a very long corridor in front of a closed glass door for an employee who walks up with quick small steps and is visible to the viewer from the other side of the corridor, but who does not. seems to be getting closer. A wonderful play with perspective, and finally another commentary on modern architecture that doesn’t seem to have been made for practical purposes and for human use. The division of tasks also seems to consist of unnecessary layers and bureaucracy. Also fantastic is the Mr. Bean-esque scene – Rowan Atkinson obviously based this legendary character on Mr. Hulot – in which Mr. Hulot is “trapped” in a glass-enclosed waiting room, studying the curiously squeaky and “sighing” tight-fitting armchairs by repeatedly pressing the seats and backrests with his hand; after which they keep popping back to their original state. The identical-looking businessmen, with raincoats, suitcases and hats, who are pressed together in a line at the bus stop, and later get on as one, also form a unique and special image, just like the one of the last scenes of the film in which traffic on a roundabout turns slowly but at the same time moving around, like a merry-go-round at a fairground. When they come to a stop, it takes a coin in the parking meter to get them moving again. Furthermore, many compositions are telling, with the same cars parked side by side in the same way, as well as the blocks of flats on the horizon that are indistinguishable and, as some advertising posters show, look the same in every country.

The tight, businesslike first half of the film is in stark contrast to the chaotic and ultimately lively second half of the film, which is set in a chic restaurant, but not quite finished yet, where various constructive blunders ensure that the from a stiff nightlife for the happy few into a dusty-es-in and anarchic party tent for any inhabitant of Paris. Here too there is a lot to experience, there is something to see in every corner, and it will undoubtedly pay off to watch the film several times, with different points of interest. At first, however, this part seems a bit more tedious and visually less captivating than the conceptually fantastic first half.

Of course, this is partly the maker’s point, but it all comes across a bit messy, with less original observations, and lots of iterations of jokes that are often just a bit less strong or sharp than in the corporate environments of earlier in the film. Still, this episode is also worth watching, with a glass door that shatters, after which the doorman only continues to open and close the brass door frame to let people in; with a drunken customer who falls over with crutch and all and is simply hoisted up again in the inverted crutch; with metal crowns on the backs of the seats, which then remain pressed into the clothing or into the skin of the occupant; and with – again – a very nonfunctional piece of architecture in the form of a marble pillar, which people constantly bump into or have to look around. But there’s a lot more to see and notice, and then a lot more with new viewings. And this is exactly what Tati wants: that we keep looking and discovering. That we see the absurdity, humor and possibilities in the world around us, and if “needed” give the environment a hand. The world is our playground and playtime has finally arrived.