Mon Oncle
Tati once again steps into the shoes of Monsieur Hulot. In this film, Hulot’s clumsiness turns his sister’s villa – equipped with various ultra-modern gadgets – into a complete shambles. Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Monsieur Hulot lives in a colourful, overpopulated Parisian neighbourhood and, lacking employment, spends his days waiting to pick up his adoring nephew from school, and subsequently escorting him to his parents’ ultra-modern house. Filled with gadgets, some turned on only to impress the neighbours, the house seems designed specifically to frustrate Hulot, who unwittingly disrupts its operations at every opportunity. Concerned about his future, Hulot’s relatives attempt to find him gainful employment and pair him off with a neighbour, with little success on either front. The nearly dialogue-free film is less concerned with the family’s attempts as they relate to an overall plot, and more interested in how they play into its overall scheme of contrasts and allow for Tati’s unmistakable sight-and-sound gag set pieces.