A review of the classic French comedy “Playtime” (1967)
A French comedy may seem an unlikely work for inclusion in a review of classic films, but “Playtime” is featured in the book “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” (when else could you see them?) and it was shown on a cinema course that I attended at London City’s Literary Institute.It was directed and co-written by Jacques Tati and in it Tati reprises his role as Monsieur Hulot (but only as one of many characters). The film took three years to shoot and cost a fortune to make because Tati insisted on building all the sets of buildings and roads over a huge site. In fact, the work was poorly received, took little money, and bankrupted Tati.
One can understand why “Playtime’ failed with audiences. It is long (two and a half hours), it is slow (especially in the first half), there is no real plot, there is no identification with a particular character, and the minimal dialogue – in French, English and German – is in the background as noise rather than part of any narrative.
On the other hand, this oddity of a movie is a fascinating work for students of cinema. The style is special: long and wide shots in 70 mm, so that one needs to see it in a theatre for the full experience. Every scene has a visual or aural gag and there is so much going on that nobody could catch everything on first viewing. Although there are few laugh-out-loud scenes, the smile will rarely leave your face.
So, what is it about? Set largely in an airport and then a restaurant in a weird version of Paris, it is a gentle satire that pokes fun at the sterility and greyness of modernity and the the craziness of the (American) tourist. The overall effect is like one of those dreams in which nothing and nobody behaves like it should.
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