Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953)

I have decided to make this blog a bit more classier by a reviewing a respected movie...a respected FOREIGN MOVIE! When I first saw Mr. Hulot's Holiday on TCM, I was rather underwhelmed with it. "This is a classic?" I ask myself, utterly confused by what I had just seen. There's no character development, no narrative, and no ending. Yet, the images managed to stay with me that when it was on television again, I decided to give it another try and not surprisingly, I WAS IMPRESSED. I began to notice things that I had notice before in previous viewings; characters who were in the background become more prevalent this time and Hulot's relationship with the pretty blond took on a deeper meaning. Roger Ebert sums up  Mr. Hulot's Holiday best, when he wrote in his review:

Let me try to explain my relationship with ``Hulot.'' The first time I saw it, I expected something along the lines of a Hollywood screwball comedy. Instead, the movie opens with its sweet little melody, which is quite pleased that life goes on. Hulot arrives (inconveniencing a dog that wants to sleep in the road) and tries his best to be a well-behaved holiday-maker. He is so polite that when the announcer on the hotel's radio says ``Good night, everybody!'' he bows and doffs his hat. Because there were no closeups, because the movie did not insist on exactly who Hulot was, he became the audience--he was me.

I met all the people Hulot met, I became accustomed to their daily perambulations as he did, and I accompanied him as he blundered into a funeral and was mistaken as a mourner, and when he was accosted by a rug, and when a towrope boinged him into the sea. And then the holiday was over, and everyone began to pack and leave, and there was the hint of how lonely this coastal village would be until next summer, when exactly the same people would return to do exactly the same things.

When I saw the film a second time, the wonderful thing was, it was like returning to the hotel. It wasn't like I was seeing the film again; it was like I was recognizing the people from last year. There's the old couple again (good, they made it through another year). The waiter (where does he work in the winter?). And the blond girl (still no man in her life; maybe this is the summer that . . .).

I think what often frustrates many film goers (at least IMBD users) about Mr. Hulot's Holiday is it's lack of a narrative. As Roger Ebert puts it, many people are expecting to see a Hollywood screwball comedy, but instead are left with a film were essentially nothing really happens; Hulot stumbles around the scenery for a few scenes, has a few pleasant moments with the pretty blond girl..AND that's about it...at least at first glance. When we are first introduced to the pretty blonde, Martine, at the train station, we automatically have her pegged as the romantic leading lady. When she first meets Mr. Hulot and flashes him a quick smile, we, in our Hollywood mindset, think, "Aha! It's only a matter of time before the two of them will be making love on the beach." Yet! This never develops. Their relationship culminates in a dance at masked ball, where they are the only two adults in attendance; everyone else is sitting by the radio listening to a political speech. It's the only moment the two of them really connect, after this scene the two of them never are seen onscreen together again; Hulot stops by her summer house to say goodbye, but she walks inside just as soon as he arrives. Hulot then leaves the house when he gets snubbed by her aunt and other vacationers. There's no real closure to the relationship, it just ends.

The other noticeable thing about the Hulot/Martine relationship is that it is defined by gestures and looks, rather than dialogue. In fact, if my memory is correct, the two of them don't exchange a single word of dialogue throughout the entire film. This is in stark contrast to Martine's other male suitors throughout the film, who can never keep their mouths shut. In the beginning of the film, a male tennis player tries to impress Martine by talking about his record collection and asks if she would like to come over. Later, she is seen with an intellect who prattles on about Marxist theory, while her focus is more on a game of table tennis Hulot is playing with a kid. In fact, the only time Martine seems to be having a genuinely good time is when she is in Hulot's presence. He's a complete and utter klutz, but he makes her laugh with his antics.
The reason I linger on the Hulot/Martine relationship is that for the first time viewer it is the most noticeable aspect of the movie; we are all expecting a romantic comedy and get quite the opposite. Hence, by the standards of people used to narrative Hollywood movies, the ending is a disappointment. However, when one looks at Jacques Tati entire (if somewhat slim) oeuvre the ending is perfectly justified. Tati was more interested in the way people interact in groups as opposed to how the acted as individuals; in 1967's Playtime, Hulot is often relegated to the background to make way for American tourists in Paris.
Mr. Hulot's Holiday becomes a different film with each successive viewing, because the "background " characters begin to take more prominence. You often become just as enamored with their antics as you do with Hulot's.  Here's list of the  some characters you encounter with each successive viewing:

The retired Army Major: He spends most of his time telling old war stories to whoever will listen and treats a picnic like it's a military operation. When the vacationers decide to go for a picnic in the woods, the Major assigns as to who will sit in what car and is completely irritated when there is a slight change in his plans. He stands up in the front car, pointing out directions, like he is in charge of a tank command. Everything must be precise.

The strolling old couple:  Throughout the film, we are shown an old couple strolling throughout the beach. The old man usually lingers a few feet behind his wife, while she marvels at just about everything she sees. In my favorite bit, she picks up seashells, talks about how beautiful they are and then hands them off to her husband, who in utter annoyance tosses them aside. Like Martine, the only time the old man seems to be enjoying himself is when he's around Hulot. At one point, while him and his wife are strolling on the patio, he stops to look in on Hulot and Martine dancing and smiles. Later on, he sneaks away from his doddering wife to say goodbye to Hulot and shake his hand.

The English Woman: While most of the vacationers find Hulot's antic annoying, she is absolutely charmed by them. When Hulot is playing table tennis with young boy, she sits on a chair and watches the whole thing, applauding every time either one of them make a good play. Later on, she searches the beach hotel for Hulot and is bummed when she can't find him. She pulls up a chair to watch the other vacationers play a card game, but then becomes elated when a jazz record starts to play. This is the record the Hulot blares throughout the movie, much to annoyance of everyone else. A smile fills her face and she, along with other vacationers, run up to his room to find that it is a little boy that is listening to the record. Dejected, she once again searches the hotel for Hulot.

The Busy Family Man: Every time it seems he and his family are about to have a nice relaxing moment on the beach, he is called to the telephone. He must take the call, because it is a business call. Even while on vacation, he can't take a break from work. Later on, he is floating in water, when the hotel clerk shout he has a phone call. He is confused on his bearing and begins to swim out to open sea, until the clerk shouts at him that he is swimming the wrong way. In one scene, he's about to take a family photo and tells everyone to remain still, when suddenly he is called to front desk to take a phone call. The camera lingers on the family for a few seconds as they remain still, waiting for his return.

A reoccurring motif throughout the film is how people, despite being on holiday, are incapable to relax or really enjoy themselves. Other than Hulot, the other vacationers idea of a good time is playing a game of cards and listening to the radio. Even while on vacation they still follow a strict time table: when the lunch and dinner bell is rung, they promptly drop what they are doing and run to the cafeteria to eat their meals. When the radio station signs off, they all go to bed.  They can't escape the problems of the world for even a couple of minutes; while Hulot and Martine are dancing at the Masked Ball, the rest of the vacationers sit around the radio listening to a state of address by the Prime Minister. When Hulot turns up the record that Martine and him are dancing to, it offends everyone else in the hotel. Earlier in the film, a newspaper vendor drives up on the beach and the vacationers drop their activities to buy a copy; Hulot buys a copy too, but he turns his copy into a paper hat to wear at the tennis court.

The most noticeable thing about Jacques Tati's style is his lack of editing and close ups, instead everything is shot in either long or medium shots and extended takes. Jacques Tati believe the best way to tell a story was to let everything play out onscreen, as opposed to breaking it up into multiple shots. In one memorable bit, the canoe Hulot is sailing breaks in half and folds over on him, resembling the jaws of a shark. A beach goer notices the shark like object and yells, "Shark!" This causes a panic and everyone runs off the beach.
 Tati has often been compared to Buster Keaton and this is not surprising as Keaton used a very similar style in his films. Granted, Keaton did use close ups and narratives in his films, but most of his set pieces were done in extended takes and long shots. A famous example is in Sherlock, Jr. in Keaton is riding on the handle bars of driver less motorcycle, completely oblivious to the dangers around him. Like Tati, this entire sequence uses medium and long shots and lets each stunt play out onscreen, as opposed to using trick edits.

It's also in my opinion that Jacques Tati was one of the best sound filmmakers of all time, next to Fritz Lang and Rene Clair. This may seem odd, considering the lack of dialogue in Tati's films, but very few filmmakers use sound better than Tati when it comes to punctuating or signify something onscreen. In Playtime, Hulot's entrance is signified by the sound of him dropping his umbrella. Hulot is introduced in the very back of the frame and it's the sound of the drop umbrella that draws our attention to him. In Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Hulot's entrances are often preceded by a big crashing noise; Hulot drives a small, sputtering old car that backfires every few seconds. At the beginning, Martine is in her room, when all of a sudden an explosion is heard on the soundtrack, Martine walks to her window and just then Hulot's car pulls into frame.  In another hilarious moment, we are shown a long shot of the tennis courts; it is a serene scene with birds chirping on the soundtrack as the tennis players enjoy a friendly game.  Just then in the foreground, Hulot's car rolls menacingly rolls into frame and lets out a huge explosion; after the disturbance everything comes to a complete stand still, the birds stop chirping and tennis players halt their game to give Hulot a dirty look.
In the masked ball sequence, Martine enters the hotel in her costume and is about to leave when she finds no one else is there, but is halted in her tracks when she hears a record beginning to play. She turns around and Hulot emerges from the left side of the frame to greet her. There's not a single word of dialogue in that entire sequence, but the sound of the record tells us all we need to know.

I talked about how unconventional of a film Mr. Hulot's Holiday compared to most American cinema, yet oddly enough it maybe Jacques Tati's most accessible movie. Its more gag driven than Tati's Mon Oncle and Playtime. In Mon Oncle, Tati contrasts the life of Hulot with that of his sister and brother-in-law. Hulot lives in the old France, one of street vendors, brick buildings, and where practically every problem can be solved with a trip to the bar. Hulot's world is a leisurely one, where no one is any particular hurry to get things done. While, Hulot's sister and brother-in-law live in modern France, one where everything is mechanized and life goes at a fast pace; the new fashions are appalling and everything as drab, sterile appearance.  This gets juxtaposed throughout the film and, consequently, the film is often slow in spots because of this. Playtime is a film that doesn't have a true protagonist, Hulot is in it, but disappears through long stretches as the film follows a group of American tourists. In Mr. Hulot's Holiday, we have a clear cut protagonist, albeit a clumsy one, who shrugs off every inconvenience that comes his way and moves on with his life.

It's film that is littered with a lot of wonderful set pieces:

The tennis match - Hulot plays a game of tennis with other vacationers and offers up such a hard serve that he nearly knocks his opponents heads off. At one point, a woman player swings at the tennis ball, misses and spins her way into the fence. In another instance, Hulot's serve knocks off the hat of the Major. The other players have no time to swing at Hulot's serve that he keeps on winning his matches, much to the delight of Martine and the English Woman, and the chagrin of everyone else.

Hulot's car pulls his car into a churchyard where there is a funeral going on. A group of men help Hulot push his car out of the courtyard and he comes back to shake their hands. People who have dropped by to pay their last respects see Hulot shaking the hands of them and assume that he is one of the mourners, so they all line up to shake his hand.

Hulot shows up to Martine's summer house, because the two of them had made an arrangement to go horse back riding together. Hulot waits for her in the study and proceeds to mess up the place, by knocking over things with his riding crop. At one point he straightens out a crooked picture on the wall, only to knock it off kilter by hitting it with his crop.

Hulot, to get away from a barking dog, hides in a shed and lights a match, only to find that it's where all the fireworks are stored. He accidentally lights one firework, which sets off all the other ones.

And many, many more.

Mr. Hulot's Holiday is a film that gets better with each successive viewing, once you realize that it is not a romantic comedy, you begin to appreciate it's many layers and subtleties. It's definitely an unforgettable movie experience.

Credits:

Cast: Jacques Tati (Hulot), Nathalie Pascaund (Martine), Micheline Rolla (Aunt), Valentine Camax (English Woman), Louis Perrault (Fred), Andre Dubois (Major), Lucien Fregis (Hotel Proprieter), Raymond Carl (Waiter).

Director: Jacques Tati.
Screenplay: Jacques Tati, Henri Marquet.

Running Time: 98 min.