Re:Charlie Chaplin Dot Com
by hilbert42 on Tuesday February 14, 2023 @07:30AM
(#34788397)
All of Tati's films have to be viewed multiple times to be fully appreciated as he pays exquisite attention to details, many of which are small and seemingly insignificant and often missed at first viewing. PlayTime is a visual masterpiece especially for this reason.
In many ways Tati was a silent filmmaker in an era of sound; he neverthelsss embraces sound in a remarkably intuitive way that makes him one of its great film interpreters.
For instance, the buzz of the neon light transformer in PlayTime — an annoying sound we've all experienced. It's a seemingly trivial inclusion in an otherwise complex and 'active' scene. But it's not really trivial, for often when one's experiencing or recalling some real life drama it's often the trivial that one remembers—the main event cannot be recalled without the 'trivial' coming to mind as it's contextually important memory.
Another excellent example is from Mon Oncle, the scene where Monsieur Hulot's 'competence' is being questioned, but one cannot forget the seemingly trivial sound of the secretary's short click-clack high-heel steps as she briefly enters and leaves the scene—yet her presence is only incidental to the scene's transpiring events. Not only was Tati a master at using sound this way he was also a genius at observing human nature in action.
The other ingredient that makes Tati's films so delightfully memorable is their simple humanity. Decades ago, I first saw Mon Oncle as a kid of about ten—about the same age as Gérard (Hulot's nephew). That was well before I'd learned any French and the version I saw had no English subtitles yet I enjoyed the film enormously, and I still do—I never tire of seeing it. That's part of Tati's genius, he has the remarkable ability to appeal to all ages and new generations.
In many ways Tati was a silent filmmaker in an era of sound; he neverthelsss embraces sound in a remarkably intuitive way that makes him one of its great film interpreters.
For instance, the buzz of the neon light transformer in PlayTime — an annoying sound we've all experienced. It's a seemingly trivial inclusion in an otherwise complex and 'active' scene. But it's not really trivial, for often when one's experiencing or recalling some real life drama it's often the trivial that one remembers—the main event cannot be recalled without the 'trivial' coming to mind as it's contextually important memory.
Another excellent example is from Mon Oncle, the scene where Monsieur Hulot's 'competence' is being questioned, but one cannot forget the seemingly trivial sound of the secretary's short click-clack high-heel steps as she briefly enters and leaves the scene—yet her presence is only incidental to the scene's transpiring events. Not only was Tati a master at using sound this way he was also a genius at observing human nature in action.
The other ingredient that makes Tati's films so delightfully memorable is their simple humanity. Decades ago, I first saw Mon Oncle as a kid of about ten—about the same age as Gérard (Hulot's nephew). That was well before I'd learned any French and the version I saw had no English subtitles yet I enjoyed the film enormously, and I still do—I never tire of seeing it. That's part of Tati's genius, he has the remarkable ability to appeal to all ages and new generations.