Jacque Tati's second feature film and first film in color reintroduces his hilarious Chaplinesque alter ego, M. Hulot. After having followed Hulot on his sun-drenched, foible-filled seaside vacation in MR. HULOT'S HOLIDAY, MON ONCLE finds Tati contrasting Hulot's bohemian provincial home life with the modern, contraption-filled concrete and glass home belonging to his sister and her family, the Arpels, where Hulot's nephew, Gerard, is drowning in boredom. When Hulot comes for a visit, the gadgets get the better of him, in a seamless spectacle of electric switches, slamming doors and malfunctioning accoutrements. Tati shuttles back and forth between Hulot's quaint home of friendly, if mischievous neighbors and music filled provincial café's and the Arpel's surreal and cold ultra modern lifestyle, creating an evocative and whimsical contrast that Tati would develop further in his future masterpieces, PLAYTIME and TRAFFIC. When Mr. Arpel contrives to secure Hulot a position at his rubber tubing factory, Mrs. Arpel simultaneously conspires to fix him up with an eccentric neighbor, Hulot's clumsy and gullible nature lead him into myriad tangles with the Arpels modern lifestyle, climaxing in an intricately absurd garden party.
French director Jacques Tati's first color film.
Received the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Voted One of the Year's Best by THE NEW YORK TIMES and the National Board of Review.
The print used for the Home Vision Cinema VHS version is from the Janus collection. The transfer is digitally remastered with new subtitles.
The film's original cut is 126 minutes long. The USA release ran 110 minutes. The VHS releases use this cut, however the laserdisc version is listed at 116 minutes.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Mono - French
Additional Release Material:
Short Film:
1. "L'ecole Des Facteurs" (1947) - Rene Clement - Director, Jacques Tati - Star
Video Introduction:
1. Terry Jones - Filmmaker
Director of Photography
Jean Bourgoin: Dp - "Mon Oncle"
Review 1:
"[A] wonderfully observed satire..."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.85 03/01/2005
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