Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, Les (1953)

Director:

Jacques Tati

Writers:

Henri Marquet (dialogue)
Henri Marquet (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 June 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It's laugh-vacation time as Jacques Tati romps through the most gloriously mad lark ever to tickle the ribs of young and old alike!

Plot:

Monsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation, where he accidentally (but good-naturedly) causes havoc.

Plot Keywords:

Very Little Dialogue | Directed By Star | Brittany | Beach | Classic Car

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jacques Tati	...	Monsieur Hulot
Nathalie Pascaud	...	Martine
Micheline Rolla	...	The Aunt (as Michèle Rolla)
Valentine Camax	...	Englishwoman
Louis Perrault	...	Fred
André Dubois	...	Commandant
Lucien Frégis	...	Hotel Proprietor (as Lucien Fregis)
Raymond Carl	...	Waiter
René Lacourt	...	Strolling Man
Marguerite Gérard	...	Strolling Woman

Also Known As:

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (UK)
Mr. Hulot's Holiday (USA)

Runtime:

114 min | Finland:100 min (1955) | Singapore:96 min | Sweden:95 min | USA:85 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/6 | Finland:S | Singapore:PG | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:Approved | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Hotel de la Plage - 37 rue Commandant Charcot, Saint-Marc-sur-Mer, Loire-Atlantique, France

Company:

Cady Films

Trivia:

The name of the hotel at which the guests stay is "The Hotel of the Beach".

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#4.2)" (1991)

Brings its own popcorn.

If you do not have the time or money to travel back to 1953 to spend a French holiday, you might as well just watch M. Hulot's Holiday. Honestly holidays are stressful and barely ever as good as you want them to be anyway, while this movie was much more than I expected it to be.

The humor in the film is warm, never condescending or patronizing to the characters. There is always the sense of fun. The movie really sells itself to me by not making Mr. Hulot a buffoon alone in the crowd. Circumstance and happening reveals everyone to be capable of situational humor, the accidents of the movie are shared with a laugh.

It is an observational movie, and the majority of the humor is not forced, neither upon us nor upon the movie itself. It merely shows how people can get involved in each others' lives, how funny the average day can be. It is like attending a family reunion, really. The camera does not stick itself to Mr. Hulot, but goes anywhere for a laugh. If a small boy is doing something funny, the camera will be there to capture it all, and then leave the boy. This would make another film feel large, but because there is no story to the film, because there is no main character to feel especially attached to, it always feels personal, it always feel like you are seeing something nobody else is.

Perhaps the best part is that the film sticks with you for days afterward, and soon Mr. Hulot's Holiday shows its real genius, as you start noticing similar things happening around you.