Jour de fête (1949)

Director:

Jacques Tati

Writers:

Jacques Tati (writer) and
Henri Marquet (writer) ...

Release Date:

4 May 1949 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Once a year the fair comes for one day to the little town 'Sainte-Severe-sur-Indre'. All inhabiters are scoffing at Francois...

Plot Keywords:

Very Little Dialogue | Slapstick | Carnival | Cult Favorite | Village

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Guy Decomble	...	Roger
Jacques Tati	...	François, the postman
Paul Frankeur	...	Marcel
Santa Relli	...	Roger's wife
Maine Vallée	...	Jeannette
Delcassan	...	The tattler
Roger Rafal	...	The hair-dresser
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Balpo

Also Known As:

Holiday
The Big Day

Runtime:

70 min | Finland:86 min (1960) | 79 min (restored version) | Argentina:80 min (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema) | Germany:79 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White (original release) | Color (Thomsoncolor) (alternate version, first released after restoration in 1995)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Portugal:M/6 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Germany:6 (nf) (w) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre, Indre, France

Company:

Cady Films

Trivia:

The movie was originally filmed in Thomson-color, a process that became extinct before prints of the film could be shown and was previously only available in a black and white version that was filmed as a precaution, in case the color process was not perfect. In 1995 the color copy was restored and published by Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff, and cinematographer François Ede.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)

A little masterpiece of bucolic mores

The color version is certainly a revelation and much to be preferred to the murky black-and-white sub-titled print I saw on original theatrical release. Actually sub-titles are not really necessary at all. Even born-and-bred Parisians would have difficulty penetrating the heavy provincial accents of the villagers. Furthermore, much of the dialogue is deliberately mumbled, slurred or made indecipherable by background noise. The only stretch of speech that is clearly heard is the narration of the tent movie and its information could easily be picked up by simply watching the visuals. Even an ability to understand the old lady (she is supposed to be a native but has an incongruous Parisian accent) who acts as a narrator to tie the various segments together is not at all important.

So what we actually have here is pure pantomime that is given added realism by being filtered through an aural surround. Tati is the perfect clown who makes the most of a succession of clever gags that are superbly timed and all the more enjoyable because of their insight into the mores and customs of the little village. In fact as a revelation of village life with all its atmosphere, its interplay, its horseplay, its petty quarrels, its come-and-go tensions, the movie is second to none.

The support characters too have a wonderful part to play in the action, whether professional players like Frankeur, Beauvais and Decomble or simple villagers like Vallée and Wirtz who never made another movie in their lives.

The beautiful music score lends further enchantment to the pastel colors of Tati's immaculately chosen locations.

All told, a little masterpiece and a fitting herald to Tati's best and most celebrated movie, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953).