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Playtime (1967, Fr.)
In Jacques Tati's classic and stylized masterpiece
- a semi-plotless, almost-silent comedy about the day-in-the-life
misadventures of the filmmaker's regular bumbling character, his
alter-ego Mr. Hulot; it was the last of a trilogy of Hulot films,
including Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953, Fr.) and Mon
Oncle (1958, Fr.); although made in color, the colors were washed
out, making it appear black and white (with subdued shades of grey,
blue, black, and greyish white); there were many deliberately, rarely-seen
views of the actual Paris, mostly in reflections, such as the Eiffel
Tower - unfortunately the film was a major box-office flop:
- the opening scene of an imposing cold, gray glass-and-steel
concrete, ultra-modern Parisian building (one part of a massive
movie set that comprised a modern-day airport, office building
and restaurant with lots of plate-glass, steel, and window reflections);
it was a disorienting maze of noises and people coming and going,
and arriving at the airport (with overemphasized sound effects,
e.g., slick floors, loud and echoing footsteps and conversations,
loudspeaker announcements, elevators and escalators, buzzing neon
lights, etc.)
- the sight of a gray-coated, dark-haired American lady
who had recently arrived at the Orly Airport in Paris - Barbara (Barbara
Dennek); she was part of a chatty group of American ladies led by
a disgruntled tour guide, who were brought through Customs and then
escorted to a bus to take them to their hotels in downtown Paris;
it was the start of her wanderings through a nightmarish vision of
the 'City of Lights' (with homogenous, uniform, and drab buildings);
she only knew she was actually in Paris during sightseeing when she
viewed the landmark Eiffel Tower in a highly-polished glass door
reflection
- the arrival of the character of Monsieur Hulot (director
Jacques Tati), with his overcoat and never-utilized umbrella, pipe
and hat, first at a bus-stop asking for directions, and then wandering
aimlessly, lost and becoming overwhelmed in the maze of the monolithic
buildings; he stumbled up to the entrance of the imposing STLC office
skyscraper - the beginning of a funny scene of Hulot seeking an appointment
or job interview with Mr. Giffard (Georges Montant); the doorman
told him to wait in the lobby for another man to greet him; far down
a long corridor, the individual was first seen as a distant speck
as he noisily walked toward Hulot (over a 30-second time period);
there were more exaggerated noises: squishy, deflating and uncomfortable
cushioned black chairs, buzzing lights, slippery floors, sounds of
heavy traffic nearby, and a beeping elevator (that accidentally took
him to a higher floor)
- as he continued to wait; he looked down upon a maze
of dozens of office cubicles from a descending escalator (watch the
scene carefully - there was an obvious example of bureaucratic inefficiency);
outside, the tour group disembarked - he often found himself trailed
by or near the American sightseeing tour group - and by Barbara herself
- whom he was often interwoven and linked to
Mr. Hulot's Confused Befuddlement in Metropolitan
Paris
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Bus-Stop
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Inside Skyscraper
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Waiting Near a Noisy Corridor
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- the scene of the befuddled Hulot's detour to visit
the complex's international tech expo or exhibition hall, where
the latest gizmo-gadgets were being demonstrated, also at the same
time, it was attended by Barbara's tour group - (i.e., there were
demos of squishy cushioned chairs, an "electric broom" (vacuum
cleaner) with two headlights, a Greek-styled trash can, a sound-proofed
door that silently slammed, etc.); Hulot was repeatedly mistaken
as being one of the customers, and at one point was thought to
be one of the exhibitors of a bright red light
- the film's on-going joke: there were people who looked
like Hulot (Marc Monjou), or were mistaken for Hulot, or were actual
co-veterans from the Army greeting Hulot
- the view of highly-compartmentalized, box-like, glass-fronted
apartment rooms (from floor to ceiling), a Rear
Window-like view seen from the street level - completely
mundane, impersonal, and conformist, without any privacy; at one
point, all four cubicle-sized units were in one shot, each with inhabitants
watching TV - or seemingly interacting with each other through the
wall
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An Apartment Four-Plex:
With Floor-to-Ceiling Display-Style Glass Walls
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- the amazing view of a group of workmen slowly struggling
with a huge pane of glass on a second-floor, while pedestrians
watched the silhouetted pantomime from the street level
- the climactic, lengthy slapstick and sight-gag-filled
second half - with visually-comic sequences of opening night at a
fancy, modernized new hotel, the Royal Garden with a high-class restaurant-nightclub;
it was still under construction, unfinished and behind schedule;
as the glamorously-dressed guests arrived, the overflow of guests
created mishaps and problems, such as:
(1) a newly-installed dance floor tile stuck to the Maitre'D's shoe
and had to be chiseled off by workers
(2) the kitchen serving window was too small for most dish platters
(3) there was a short-circuit in the floor light fixtures
(4) recently-painted yet stylish black chairs (with the spiky-crown-shaped
logo of the restaurant) ruined the back of a man's suit
(5) the multiple warmings, pepperings, and bastings of a platter of
food (the house special, the Tubot à la Royale") wheeled
over to a guest's table on a portable grill
(6) wooden banners hanging down in the bar area obstructed the bartender's
view of guests
(7) the metal chairs ripped many of the waiters' white uniforms
(8) a plate-glass entry door shattered - forcing the doorman, following
Hulot's pretend example, to open and close the non-existent 'invisible'
door for guests and move the round brass door handle in mid-air
The 'Invisible' Glass Door Trick
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Glass Door Shattered
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Hulot's Opening of Non-Existent Door
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Doorman Following Hulot's Example
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(9) a giant pillar holding the AC unit blocked the
main passageway into the restaurant - Hulot accidentally bumped
into it
(10) the AC unit began to malfunction - guests were sweating and
iced foods were melting; the AC instructions weren't in French; and
when turned back on, it blasted cold air everywhere
(11) a large section of the restaurant's ceiling collapsed
(12) after everything devolved into frenzied chaos and because there
was no door or doorman, many (including drunks) were directed to
walk in off the street and join the elite crowd; Barbara (in a dark
emerald green dress), who was in attendance with the tour group,
took to a piano to provide entertainment when the jazz band left
the stage
- the sight gag of a collared priest standing below
the letter "O" of a DRUGSTORE's neon sign - appearing
to have a halo
- by the next morning in the film's conclusion, there
were now colorful and playful views of a clogged automobile roundabout,
including the restaurant's revelers and the tour bus that joined
the normal traffic; the crowded jam was viewed as a joyful carousel
(accompanied by merry-go-round calliope circus music) and populated
by an endless stream of cars; keeping the same rhythm, there were
cars in a repair bay moving up and down (viewed from the interior
of the tour bus)
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Cars in Roundabout Traffic Circle
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Repair Bay:
Automobiles Going Up and Down
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- the striking and inventive image of the reflection
of the sky and the passing tour bus in a tilted window being washed
- the last visual, subtle metaphors of beautiful uniformity
were Hulot's parting gesture of two heartfelt souvenirs, gifts or
going-away presents for Barbara (a white scarf with images of Parisian
monuments, and a flower sprig of lily of the valley) as she returned
by coach bus to the airport; the flower's complementary twin was
a similarly-shaped row of curved Parisian city street lamps lining
the highway to the airport
Two Gifts: The Scarf and The Flower Sprig - Streetlights
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Barbara's (Barbara Dennek) Arrival in American Tour Group
- Leaving Orly Airport
Hulot Taken on an Unwanted Elevator Ride
Looking Down on Dozens of Office Cubicles
Reflection of Eiffel Tower As Barbara Entered
Glass Door
Marketing of an "Electric Broom"
Demonstration of a Red Light by Hulot
Workers with Gigantic Pane of Glass
A Drugstore's Sickening Buzzing Green Neon Light
Illuminated a Cheap Corner Diner's Food Counter
Hulot Bumped into Pillar Blocking Restaurant's
Passageway
Collapse of Restaurant Ceiling
Barbara at the Restaurant in Green Dress at Piano
Collared Priest with Halo
The Ingenious Image of a Window Washer - and
the Reflection of the Sky in the Tilted Glass
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