264. Les Vacances de M. Hulot (M. Hulot's Holiday) (1953)

Directed By Jacques Tati

Synopsis

A guy goes to the beach. Hilarity does not ensue.

Review

Jacques Tati is a sacred cow. No one criticises him, he has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and imdb loves him. Critics approach this film with the name of Jacques Tati at the back of their heads, they try to see what is not there, they feel ashamed to say they hated it. Well, the sad truth is that his was the worst film I have had the displeasure of watching on this list. I was tempted to stop it after 30 minutes and refuse to watch any more. My wife agrees, so I know I'm not the only one.

This is not due to some primary hate of slapstick, I love Buster Keaton, who has the imagination, the sense of peril and thrill and all the things that can make slapstick good. Keaton also gave his films a plot, which kept the slapstick more exciting because it advanced the story, it meant something.

Tati presents us with a film, that even if it is technically sufferable it is in no way better than what was being done in the 20s. Actually its worse, you care for none of the characters because you don't know them. And then it is simply not funny, I smiled 3 times in the film, and I can even tell you when:

At the beginning when people keep missing trains because of the crap speakers, and I laughed because I was trying to give the film a chance.

When Hulot drops the air chamber of his tire on some mud and leaves during a funeral, making it pass for a wreath.

When a guy keeps discarding the lovely shells his wife passes to him.

Combining these three occasions I get about 20 seconds of funny in a film of 1 hour 30 minutes. This is a film for the same French people who love Jerry Lewis, and I actually find Jerry much funnier than this poor excuse for a film.

Crap.

Final Grade

3/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

On its release in the United States, Bosley Crowther's review said that the film contained "much the same visual satire that we used to get in the 'silent' days from the pictures of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and such as those." He said the film "exploded with merriment" and that Tati "is a long-legged, slightly pop-eyed gent whose talent for caricaturing the manners of human beings is robust and intense.... There is really no story to the picture.... The dialogue... is at a minimum, and it is used just to satirize the silly and pointless things that summer people say. Sounds of all sorts become firecrackers, tossed in for comical point.

He was lying.


Judge for yourself: