Playtime

( 2 )

Overview

Arriving nearly a decade after Mon Oncle, Playtime continues the adventures of M. Hulot. More than a decade seems to have passed since its predecessor, however. The colorful Paris of Mon Oncle, last seen being slowly chipped away by progress, has now vanished almost entirely. Playtime takes as its setting an ultra-modern Paris where familiar landmarks appear only as fleeting reflections in the new buildings of glass and steel. Alternating between Hulot and a group of American tourists, Tati exploits the chaos ...
See more details below
Available in stores.
See All Options
Pick Up In Store Near You

Pick Up In Store Near You

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

More About This Product

Overview

Arriving nearly a decade after Mon Oncle, Playtime continues the adventures of M. Hulot. More than a decade seems to have passed since its predecessor, however. The colorful Paris of Mon Oncle, last seen being slowly chipped away by progress, has now vanished almost entirely. Playtime takes as its setting an ultra-modern Paris where familiar landmarks appear only as fleeting reflections in the new buildings of glass and steel. Alternating between Hulot and a group of American tourists, Tati exploits the chaos just below the overly ordered surface of this brave new world. Again moving from one nearly wordless episode to another, Tati sends his alter ego off to make an appointment in a whirring, featureless office complex. He subsequently moves on to an exhibition of new inventions, meets an old friend at an aquarium-like apartment, wreaks havoc in a snooty new restaurant, and, again, almost falls in love. The most ambitious and technically complex of the Hulot films, it proved unprofitable and helped usher in the financial difficulties that would plague Tati late in life before later getting the recognition it enjoys today. ~ Keith Phipps
Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse
The second Criterion DVD edition of this classic 1967 French comedy is both an immeasurable visual improvement on the first release and a welcome reminder of director, screenwriter, and actor Jacques Tati’s incomparable gifts as a filmmaker. In this masterful comic feature, Tati plays his inimitable screen character, the sublimely innocent Monsieur Hulot. Set in contemporary Paris, the ironically titled Playtime finds Hulot enmeshed in an urban web of modern buildings, rushing cars, insanely busy people, and annoying tourists. Hulot -- as always, outfitted with trademark trench coat, hat, pipe, and umbrella -- bumbles along on his merry way, oblivious to the havoc and mayhem that ensues in his wake. A quietly absurd film that often borders on the surreal, Playtime resembles what could only be described as the mutant offspring of a Chaplin silent movie and a Warner Bros. cartoon. Still radical -- especially for a comedy -- for its sparse narrative and insistence on not telegraphing laughs, the film offers both a plethora of inventive gags and a message about the alienating qualities of urban life and its effect on the human psyche. Criterion’s previous disc sported a soft transfer than elicited many complaints from consumers; for this new two-disc set, Playtime has been remastered from the best surviving film elements and now looks terrific. The bonus disc includes numerous supplements, including a ’76 BBC interview with Tati, a heretofore uncollected short film he made in ’67, and fascinating behind-the-scenes info on the film’s production.
All Movie Guide
A miraculous achievement by any stretch of the imagination, Playtime was the movie that both sank Jacques Tati's career and cemented his critical reputation. Famously fastidious and exercising complete creative control (only Robert Bresson among contemporary French directors had as much authority over his projects), Tati spent nearly a decade between his previous feature, Mon Oncle, and this folly of a movie. Set in a hysterically hyperbolic modernized Paris, Playtime plops down Tati's iconic Monsieur Hulot in a bewildering sea of glass and steel. Ostensibly a commentary on modern life and the homogenization of urban culture, the movie resists glib conclusions. Initially, Hulot's wanderings seem to hint at a viciously satirical subtext. The movie's commercialized Paris is seen as an alienating, artificial place. As the day wears on, however, the city -- and the movie -- becomes warmer, more ebullient. The good humor spills over at a climactic party at a ritzy restaurant. Packed with movement and chatter, the anarchic sequence is the ultimate expression of Tati's dictum of "democracy" within the frame. The complex and rigorous mise-en-scéne gives the attentive eye several gags to choose from; foregrounds, middle, and backgrounds teem with movement. It's a radical approach that pays tribute to the audience's ability to see and think for itself. For a coda, Tati picked an appropriately ecstatic showstopper: the giddiest traffic jam ever recorded on film. The ideological flipside of the apocalyptic bumper-to-bumper freeway in Godard's Weekend, another landmark movie from 1967, Playtime's carnivalesque gridlock is the perfect culminating metaphor for a movie that sees the modern world as a source of both wonder and bemusement.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • Release Date: 9/5/2006
  • UPC: 715515070010
  • Original Release: 1967

    • Rating:

  • Source: Criterion
  • Format: DVD

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Jacques Tati Monsieur Hulot
Barbara Dennek Young Tourist
Georges Montant Giffard
John Abbey Lacs
Henri Piccoli An Important Gentleman
René Kolldehoff
Yves Barsacq
Billy Kearns M. Schultz
Valerie Camille Mons. Luce's Secretary
France Delahalle Shopper in Department Store
Erika Dentzler Mme. Gifford
Leon Doyen Doorman
Yvette Ducreux Hat Check Girl
André Fouché
Ketty France
Jack Gauthier The Guide
Jacqueline Lecomte Her Friend
Rita Maiden Mr. Schultz's Companion
Laure Paillette Two Women at the Lamp
Colette Proust Two Women at the Lamp
Nicole Ray Singer
Douglas Read
France Romilly Woman Selling Eyeglasses
Francois Viaur Reinhart Kolldehoff
Technical Credits
Jacques Tati Director, Screenwriter
Jean Badal Cinematographer
Art Buchwald Screenwriter
James B. Campbell Score Composer
James Campbell Score Composer
Jacques Langrange Screenwriter
Francis Lemarque Score Composer
Gerard Pollicand Editor
Eugene Roman Production Designer
Rene Silvera Producer
David Stein Songwriter
Andréas Winding Cinematographer
Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 2 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(1)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 1, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    Trafic

    Another Tati masterpiece. Harder to follow than 'Trafic' but worth the effort and exercise.

    This is a piece that you MUST watch several times to find all of the surprises.
    You can't sleep while Tati is performing and this one is no different.
    He doesn't appear in this feature as often as some of his other works but as you watch there is no doubt who is in charge and who will see you to the door at the end.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 30, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews