The Magnificent Tati

Jacque Tati, France s unique master of comedy film, was a loner and did not belong to any school except his own. He kept his distance from other directors and from ideas like the cinéma d auteur. Yet his four main features (Jour de Fête, Les vacances de M Hulot, Mon Oncle and Playtime), made with meticulous care between 1947 and 1968, were created... More »

Jacque Tati, France s unique master of comedy film, was a loner and did not belong to any school except his own. He kept his distance from other directors and from ideas like the cinéma d auteur. Yet his four main features (Jour de Fête, Les vacances de M Hulot, Mon Oncle and Playtime), made with meticulous care between 1947 and 1968, were created almost entirely by him, as writer, director and star. Tati invites you to see not the comedian, but comedy itself. That explains why he s given us the adjective tatiesque to describe the delicious absurdity of people behaving...well, as they do!

Director Michael House explores the life and work of the magnificent Tati through clips and interviews with those who know his work best. Tati is followed from his origins as a mime on the Parisian music-hall stage to his Oscar-winning Mon Oncle, and the tells how Tati lost it all on his masterpiece Playtime. The film culminates with clips of contemporary artists paying tribute to the great man s work. Featured are: Sylvian Chomet whose The Illusionist is a homage to Tati, Mike Mills, Frank Black, Professor David Bellos, Marie-France Siegler, Stéphane Goudet, Gamarjobat, Craig McCracken, Sparks, macha Make eff, Professor Martine Beugnet, mime artists Steven Wasson and Corinne Soum and Tati himself. Less «