JACQUES TATI'S MASTERPIECE, PLAY TIME
Play Time is French director Jacques Tati's fourth major film, and generally considered to be one of his better films. Shot in 70 mm, Play Time is notable for its enormous set, which Tati had built specially for the film, as well as Tati's trademark use of subtle, yet complex visual comedy supported by creative sound effects; dialogue is frequently reduced to the level of background noise.
Best French Movies @ Top 100 Foreign Films. Here is a great resource to read about Cheap TVs.
CONTENTS OF THIS LENS:
- 10 REASONS YOU SHOULD WATCH PLAY TIME:
- PLAY TME (PLAYTIME) REVIEW
- PLAY TIME : ARTS AND FAITH
- RATE PLAY TIME?
- WATCH PLAYTIME ONLINE
- WHICH ONE YOU LIKE MOST?
- THE DIRECTOR: JACQUES TATI
- JACQUES TATI : SELECT FILMOGRAPHY
- JACQUES TATI BY VOTE?
- CHECK OUT AMAZON FOR JACQUES TATI'S WORK!
- WHICH ONE IS YOUR BEST FRENCH FILM?
- ALSO CHECK OUT THESE LENSES
- LOVE PLAY TIME?
10 REASONS YOU SHOULD WATCH PLAY TIME:
Play Time is the fourth major film of Jacques Tati, a French director which is considered to be one of his most daring ones. In the film Jacques Tati himself plays the role of Monsieur Hulot. The film is given 6 structures where two characters are linked in such a way that they encounter each other repeatedly in a day. Young Barbara, an American tourist who visits Paris with a group of middle aged women and Hulot, a Frenchman who is lost in Paris. The sequences are - the airport, the office, the trade exhibition, the apartment, the Royal garden and the carousal of cars.
Play Time portrays some specially constructed sets like Tatville which costs very high to construct and maintain. Hundreds of workers were needed to build such a set which gave rise to the budget dragging the shooting of the film to three years. The visual comedy, sound effects and life sized photography makes the film larger than life. In spite of making it a color movie, Jacques Tati ensured to give Play Time a Blank and White look with the magical photography and cinematography. Play Time can be said as one of the best French films and ranked under Top 10 Foreign movies.
Key casts of the Play Time are Jacques Tati as Monsieur Hulot, Barbara Dennek as Barbara, Jacqueline Lecmte as Barbara's travel companion, Valerie Camille as Mr Lac's secretaty.
*Jacques Tati's spectacular cinematic art reached its peak in the gargantuan achievement of Playtime
*Despite its disastrous financial failure, Play Time is regarded as a great achievement by many critics. Most have noted its subtlety and complexity
* This jewel of Tati's career is a hallucinatory comic vision on the verge of abstraction
* An extraordinary combination of observational comedy and technical finesse
* Bodil Awards 1969 Won Best European Film (Bedste europske film)
* it's best seen in the original 70mm format on the biggest screen possible, because of the numerous subtle sight gags on screen, that go largely unnoticed when watching it on a regular TV-set. A treatment equally essential for films like "2001: A Space Odyssey" or "Lawrence of Arabia".
* At the time, "Play Time" was the most expensive but best French film ever made.
* Playtime bankrupted Tati, forcing him to sell the rights of all his films for little more than a fee.
* Tati shot the entire film in medium-long and long shots, not one close-up.
* One of the top foreign language films Playtime is about the modern Paris. The old Paris, like the Eiffel Tower, is only seen through reflections in the glass facades
* The film is virtually dialog-free, and mainly serves as background noise.
* At the core, its a funny movie. The kind of humor is the same as in "Mon Oncle", but here, the jokes are more subtle.
* Tati certainly made something completely unique - assessing this film in the "regular sense" isn't meaningful
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I also recommend you to watch these two movies:
Secret Sunshine - This is a somber Korean drama where a widowed mother moves with her young son to a small town from Seol.
Another Year - In this movie a married couple manages to stay happy are surrounded by people who seem to be suffering from a certain degree of unhappiness.
PLAY TME (PLAYTIME) REVIEW
Director: Jacques Tati, Cast: Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maiden
There'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.
"Plenty of juicy "s" words apply to Best Mexican Movies Play Time: 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-scčne 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
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PLAY TIME : ARTS AND FAITH
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- Born of disaster, modern architecture is itself now an ongoing disaster
- By ROGER PULVERS In the French writer-director Jacques Tati's superb 1967 film "Play Time," people are like prisoners condemned to roam about in and amid the glass cages of high-rise office blocks. They are lost, both to the world and themselves.
- Blake Edwards: The man behind Inspector Clouseau, Holly Golightly and Bo Derek
- By Stephen Whitty/The Star-Ledger Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/MCTJim Carrey, right, poses with filmmaker Blake Edwards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Edwards died in 2010, when he was 88. There was a time ?versatility? was not a bad word in ...
- human face of office workers
- The scene would be referenced by Billy Wilder in The Apartment (1960) and Jacques Tati in Play Time (1967). At the same time, however, the office was achieving a kind of equation with the outside world through welcoming women - albeit, of course, ...
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch
- ... up-with-people loon named Clamp (a brilliant John Glover), the business center is an automated madhouse, wired for sound and video and constantly faltering, a testament to capitalistic confusion not unlike the high-rises of Jacques Tati's Playtime.
RATE PLAY TIME?
Ratings and Reviews of Play Time
WATCH PLAYTIME ONLINE
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Free Foreign Movies Online!
WHICH ONE YOU LIKE MOST?

Mon Oncle is a 1958 film comedy by French filmmaker Jacques Tati. The first of Tati's films to be released in colour, Mon Oncle won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Special Prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film, receiving more honors than any of Tati's other cinematic works.
Play Time is French director Jacques Tati's fourth major film, and generally considered to be one of his better films. Shot in 70 mm, Play Time is notable for its enormous set, which Tati had built specially for the film, as well as Tati's trademark use of subtle, yet complex visual comedy supported by creative sound effects; dialogue is frequently reduced to the level of background noise.

THE DIRECTOR: JACQUES TATI
Jacques Tati (9 October 1907 - 5 November 1982) was born in Paris a French filmmaker working both as a comedic actor and director, greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th of all time.
* His films have little audible dialogue, but instead are built around elaborate, tightly-choreographed visual gags and carefully integrated sound effects.
* Tati's first major feature, Jour de fe (The Big Day).
* His second film, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Mr. Hulot's Holiday).
* Mon Oncle (My Uncle) 1958, was his first film to be released in color and perhaps his best-known work.
* In an interview, Rowan Atkinson noted that Tati's characters were a source of inspiration for the creation of the British Mr Bean.
* Some of Tati's original drawings for his sets, posters, a scale model of Villa Arpel, furniture of his design and several video shows were part of the exhibits.
* Tati was the subject of a Frank Black song called "The Jacques Tati".
* Playtime was Tati's most daring and most expensive work of his career; it took him nine years to complete and he was forced to borrow heavily from his own resources to complete the picture.
* In the film, Tati and a group of American tourists lose themselves in a futuristic glass-and-steel Paris, where only human nature and a few hints of an older France still emerge to breathe life into the city.
* Narratively, Playtime had even less of a plot than his earlier films, and Tati endeavored to make his characters, including Hulot, almost incidental to his portrayal of a modernist and robotic Paris.
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JACQUES TATI : SELECT FILMOGRAPHY
*** Director:
Forza Bastia (2002)
Parade (1974) (TV)
Trafic (1971)
... aka Monsieur Hulot nel caos del traffico (Italy)
... aka Traffic
Play Time (1967)
... aka Playtime (USA)
... aka Tempo di divertimento (Italy)
Mon oncle (1958)
aka Mio zio (Italy)
Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)
.. aka M. Hulot's Holiday (Australia)
... aka Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (UK)
... aka Mr. Hulot's Holiday (USA)
Jour de fe (1949)
... aka Holiday
... aka The Big Day, L'ole des facteurs (1947),... aka School for Postmen,Gai dimanche (1935),*** Actor:Parade (1974) (TV) .... Circus performer
"Obraz uz obraz" .... Zak (1 episode, 1972),- Episode #1.5 (1972) TV episode (as Zak Tati) .... Zak,Trafic (1971) (as Mr. Hulot) .... Monsieur Hulot
... aka Monsieur Hulot nel caos del traffico (Italy),... aka Traffic,Domicile conjugal (1970) (uncredited) .... M. Hulot,... aka Bed & Board (Canada: English title) (USA),... aka Bed and Board (UK),... aka Non drammatizziamo... solo questione di corna! (Italy),Play Time (1967) .... Monsieur Hulot,... aka Playtime (USA),... aka Tempo di divertimento (Italy),Cours du soir (1967) .... Monsieur Hulot,... aka Evening Classes (USA)
Mon oncle (1958) .... Monsieur Hulot,... aka Mio zio (Italy),Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) .... Monsieur Hulot,... aka M. Hulot's Holiday (Australia),... aka Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (UK),aka Mr. Hulot's Holiday (USA),Jour de fe (1949) .... Franis, the postman,... aka Holiday
*** Writer:The Illusionist (2010) (writer),... aka L'illusionniste (France),Forza Bastia (2002) (writer),Parade (1974) (TV) (writer),Trafic (1971) (original scenario),... aka Monsieur Hulot nel caos del traffico (Italy),... aka Traffic, Time (1967) (writer),aka Playtime (USA),.. aka Tempo di divertimento (Italy) Cours du soir (1967) (writer)... aka Evening Classes (USA)
*** Producer: Mon oncle (1958) (producer) ... aka Mio zio (Italy) Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) (producer) (uncredited)
... aka M. Hulot's Holiday (Australia) ... aka Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (UK) ... aka Mr. Hulot's Holiday (USA)
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JACQUES TATI BY VOTE?
- Born of disaster, modern architecture is itself now an ongoing disaster
- By ROGER PULVERS In the French writer-director Jacques Tati's superb 1967 film "Play Time," people are like prisoners condemned to roam about in and amid the glass cages of high-rise office blocks. They are lost, both to the world and themselves.
- Blake Edwards: The man behind Inspector Clouseau, Holly Golightly and Bo Derek
- By Stephen Whitty/The Star-Ledger Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/MCTJim Carrey, right, poses with filmmaker Blake Edwards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Edwards died in 2010, when he was 88. There was a time ?versatility? was not a bad word in ...
- human face of office workers
- The scene would be referenced by Billy Wilder in The Apartment (1960) and Jacques Tati in Play Time (1967). At the same time, however, the office was achieving a kind of equation with the outside world through welcoming women - albeit, of course, ...
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch
- ... up-with-people loon named Clamp (a brilliant John Glover), the business center is an automated madhouse, wired for sound and video and constantly faltering, a testament to capitalistic confusion not unlike the high-rises of Jacques Tati's Playtime.
CHECK OUT AMAZON FOR JACQUES TATI'S WORK!
WHICH ONE IS YOUR BEST FRENCH FILM?
Vagabond is a 1985 drama film directed by Agnes Varda, featuring Sandrine Bonnaire. It describes the story of a young woman, a vagabond, who is found frozen in a ditch.
Director: Agnès Varda, Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire, Setti Ramdane
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Rocco and His Brothers is a 1960 Italian and French film directed by Luchino Visconti. Set in Milan, it tells the story of an immigrant family from the South and its disintegration in the society of the industrial North. A great saga that belongs to my list of best foreign films without reservation.
Shoot the Piano Player is a 1960 French film directed by Francois Truffaut, starring Charles Aznavour. Wow! This should be in any Top 100 Foreign Films list, no exception!
Director: François Truffaut, Cast: Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois
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Diary of a Country Priest is a 1951 French film directed by Robert Bresson, and starring Claude Laydu. It was closely based on the novel of the same name by Georges Bernanos. It tells the story of a young, sickly priest, who has just arrived in his first parish, a village in northern France.
Belle de jour is a 1967 French film starring Catherine Deneuve as a woman who decides to spend her days as a prostitute while her husband is at work. A terrific creation, this will adorn any list of best foreign language films.
Director: Luis Buñuel, Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel
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Mon Oncle is a 1958 film comedy by French filmmaker Jacques Tati. The first of Tati's films to be released in colour, Mon Oncle won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Special Prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film, receiving more honors than any of Tati's other cinematic works.
Contempt (French: Le Mepris) is a 1963 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. A must see for anyone who wants to explore the Top 100 Foreign Films of all times.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard, Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli
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My Favorite Season is a 1993 French drama film directed by Andre Techine. The story concerns a matriarch Berthe (Marthe Villalonga) who goes to live with her daughter Emilie (Catherine Deneuve) and her family. It won the award for Best Foreign Language Films at the 1996 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards.
Breathless is a 1960 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Godard's first feature-length film is among the inaugural films of the French New Wave and came straight into my list of Top Foreign Films. It derived from a scenario by fellow New Wave director, Francois Truffaut, and the film was released the year after Truffaut's The 400 Blows and Alain Resnais's Hiroshima, Mon Amour.
The Butcher is a 1970 French drama / thriller film written and directed by Claude Chabrol. Helene is a confident, slightly naive young teacher who is adored by her pupils at the school where she works and lives. She meets the local butcher, Popaul, at a wedding ceremony, and they strike up a close but platonic relationship.
Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film. The plot of Cocteau's film revolves around Belle's father who is sentenced to death for picking a rose from Beast's garden.
Director: Jean Cocteau, Cast: Jean Marais, Josette Day
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The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by Francois Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers to be a trouble maker.
The Samurai is a 1967 French minimalist crime drama/thriller film directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville. The film's protagonist Jef Costello is played by Alain Delon. You will find this film in any sensible best foreign movies list.
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Forbidden Games is a 1952 French language film directed by Rene Clement and based on Francois Boyer's novel, Jeux interdits. It has a very unique place in my best foreign films list.
CONTEMPT (LE MEPRIS) BY JEAN-LUC GODARD
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MY UNCLE (MON UNCLE)
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VAGABOND (SANS TOITS NI LOI)
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FORBIDDEN GAMES (JEUX INTERDITS)
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BELLE DE JOUR
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