"Mon Oncle" Jacques Tati and Chaplin, overlapping themes and different approaches

Index

• A legendary work that is still loved today
• The desire for self-expression that is still relevant today
• A theme that overlaps with Chaplin, but a different approach
• Differences from the box office flop "Playtime"

A legendary work that is still loved today

Jacques Tati is one of the "prodigies" who cannot be ignored when talking about the history of cinema. He was a multi-talented French comedian and actor, as well as a film director who left behind cutting-edge works that made use of his outstanding visual sense.

"Mon Oncle" (1958), which he directed, wrote, and starred in, is the most highly acclaimed of his many films and remains a beloved, legendary work. Here, we would like to look back at the content and background of "Mon Oncle" and offer a new evaluation from a modern perspective.

In several of Tati's films, including this one, he plays the character "Mr. Hulot," whose trademarks are his coat, hat, and pipe. He is clumsy and always ends up losing out, but he is also a lovable character full of humor and kindness. In the film, Mr. Hulot barely speaks a word, instead making the audience laugh with his pantomime-like physical expressions. The characters around him also refrain from explaining the situation in words more than necessary, a classic style reminiscent of silent films.

"Mon Oncle" (c) Photofest / Getty Images

Mr. Hulot lives in a unique but modest apartment in the city's rundown suburbs, and his daily routine is to take his 9-year-old nephew Gérard, his sister's child, to the Arpels residence from school. Arpels, Gérard's father and Mr. Hulot's brother-in-law, works as a factory manager and is feared by the employees at his company, but is annoyed that his son Gérard is so attached to his uncle. Although Mr. Hulot may not have a high social status, he is full of consideration for children, birds, and the people in his neighborhood.

In contrast, the Alpers believe in living as rationally and efficiently as possible, as exemplified by their ultra-modern home, which combines the functional beauty of the Bauhaus with a brutalist exterior made entirely of concrete, and a thorough minimalism that eliminates all unnecessary elements. They are truly "demons of rationality."

The desire for self-expression that is still relevant today