Review of Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953) by Yannick D — 03 Jan 2011

'Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot' is not the first Jacques Tati film, but it is the first one that features the character he's famous for: Mr. Hulot. Like so many classic comedy characters, Mr. Hulot is a clumsy oddball who has a way of getting involved in comic set pieces. He almost never speaks, so he might as well have been a silent film clown. Indeed, Charles Chaplin's Tramp was probably a source of inspiration for Tati - although modern viewers will be reminded more of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean.

The title accurately describes the whole story: Mr. Hulot spends his holiday in Southern France. There's no real plot to speak of, the movie is basically a series of gags. A lot of the humour is rather subtle, and only rarely is a joke meant to be laugh-out-loud funny. The problem is that most jokes aren't funny at all, which results in a boring and frankly sleep-inducing picture. Comedy is very subjective of course, but I don't expect most people of my generation to like this movie more than I did - which is why I'm surprised that the Flixster rating is so high.

Among the jokes that do work are several inventive sight gags. The direction by Tati is quite strong overall - the man certainly knew how to compose his shots (although I guess the cinematographers deserve at least as much credit for this). The most succesful aspect of this movie however is the jazzy soundtrack by Alain Romans, which contributes a great deal to the nostalgic atmosphere and charm of this picture.

I saw the restored version that was recently released on DVD in Europe, and I must say that the picture quality is really great. So if you're interested in buying 'Les vacances de monsieur Hulot', you can't go wrong with this edition - but if you're not familiar with the movie, I don't recommend watching it.