Play Time (1967)

“It’s Tati’s world. We’re just living in it.”

Creativity releases from your mind and can achieve its goal of attracting others. To me, film is my visual medium of expressing my thoughts and feelings to other people, and French director Jacques Tati believes that as well.

In Tati’s Play Time, the lives of two international people converge in a modernistic setting of Paris, France. Barbara is an American tourist who is simply surprised about the gadgets and inventive technology of the city. Monsieur Hulot is a French businessman who has a series of adventures and encounters throughout the day. The two people meet each other in six different sequences.

The whole setting of the film, Tativille, was created by Tati himself. The film is considered Tati’s most daring film. Although I haven’t seen any of his other films, I really noticed the risk of making this. It was in production for about three years (1964-1967) and featured little dialogue. It didn’t have a plot. It instead told a story of these two people meeting and going through a day, encountering unfamiliar buildings, gadgets, etc.

The film featured a variety of characters, including the group of American women tourists and the French businessmen. It was kind of hard to watch due to the lack of a plot; there was nothing to pay attention to or observe. However, there were scenes that were very entertaining and oddly humorous. It is considered a satire. In one scene, an older worker at a building is having troubled working a machine. He later comments on it negatively, sparking up older people’s reaction to the growing technological advances. Also because of the architecture and fashion of the set, it looks like a futuristic world. Sort of like a preview of what the world would like.

Play Time is very detailed in an almost minimalist way. It features great art direction, cinematography, acting, and, although it was a little hard to watch and felt time-consuming, it’s really not. This experimental film really did surprise me. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 and it is out now on DVD.