Product Details

• Actors: Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maiden, France Rumilly, France Delahalle
• Directors: Jacques Tati
• Writers: Jacques Tati, Art Buchwald, Jacques Lagrange
• Format: Color, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: The Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: August 18, 2009
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002AFX532
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,127 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Playtime (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There's never been, and never will be, another comedy like Playtime. Three years in the making, French comedy master Jacques Tati's 1967 classic was an epic, experimental undertaking of unprecedented scale: Requiring the lavish construction of three entire city blocks of ultra-modern buildings, it was the most expensive French film up to that time, financially ruined its creator, baffled many viewers and critics when it was finally released after numerous delays, and is now regarded as Tati's undisputed masterpiece. Once again, Tati plays his comedic alter ego, the hapless M. Hulot (first seen in 1953's Mr. Hulot's Holiday), seen here as a befuddled pawn on a gigantic chessboard (metaphorically speaking) of modern conformity. He's simply trying to get to an appointment, but in the film's astonishing mock-Parisian landscape of antiseptic steel, glass, and plastic, Tati's resonant theme of contemporary confusion is fully expressed through meticulous use of framing and space--so effectively, in fact, that critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (in an accompanying essay) suggests that the film's dazzling "Royal Garden" sequence "may be the most formidable example of mise-en-scène in the history of cinema." With M. Hulot taking a back-seat to the film's breathtaking accumulation of visual details, Playtime (or, if you prefer, Play Time) rewards multiple viewings, revealing something new every time in its widescreen canvas of subtle gags and delirious eccentricity. Although journalist Art Buchwald provided English dialogue for the film, Playtime bears closer kinship to silent comedy, with universal humor and a musical soundtrack that's as essential as any of the visuals. Tati (1908-1982) never recovered from the film's financial failure, but happily, he lived long enough to see Playtime receive its much-deserved critical re-appraisal. --Jeff Shannon

Stills from Playtime (Click for larger image)

Product Description

PLAYTIME - Blu-Ray Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Whether it's a masterpiece or a failure or both, Playtime remains an essential Tati movie, November 1, 2006

By 

C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Playtime (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Why was Playtime a failure, sending Jacques Tati into bankruptcy and costing him control over his life's work of films? His previous film, My Uncle, had been a commercial and artistic success. M. Hulot's Holiday and Jour de Fete had gained Tati world-wide recognition and respect. He had become recognized as one of the few authentic geniuses of film.

Watch Playtime and I think you'll find the answer. Tati in his earlier films placed Hulot in situations where we could empathize with him. Hulot was an innocent. As we came to like him, we also came to like the people he encountered. Even with their pretensions and idiosyncrasies, we could see something of ourselves in them. Tati might be holding up a mirror for us to look in, but M. Hulot was such a gentle companion that we smiled as we recognized ourselves.

With Playtime, there is little Hulot. Instead, we have Tati's view on all sorts of social and cultural issues, from the sterility he saw in much of modern life to modern architecture, group behavior, impersonal offices, loneliness, boorishness and American tourists. We're observers, and our job is to share Tati's viewpoint. Hulot, now middle-aged, has become a minor player in the film. In his earlier movies, Tati was careful to give us small numbers of people with whom, along with Hulot, we could come to know. In My Uncle, for instance, it was essentially one family and one modern home, along with Hulot's own apartment and his neighbors. In M. Hulot's Holiday, it was a small seaside hotel and its guests. With Playtime, we have a large, impersonal office building, all glass and right angles, filled with people -- employees, visitors, exposition guests, customers. Then we have an apartment building with huge curtain-less windows allowing the pedestrians to look right in, and we're among the pedestrians. Then we have a nightclub filled with customers, waiters and managers. There is little opportunity to get to know any of these people, much less develop affection for them.

However, as with all his movies, Tati fills Playtime with streams of intricate and carefully developed comic situations (although comic is too broad a term), often that build from small happenings we've barely noticed. There is only sporadic and incidental dialogue, but sound effects are vital to the movie, as subtle and amusing as what we see.

As sterile and unattractive as Tati makes the airport, the office building, a convenience store and the apartment, there are such odd and subtle sights as the bobbing wimple wings on two nuns, a floor sweeper staring at a booted officer, Hulot suddenly sliding down a floor, glass windows and doors impossible to tell if they're there or not, a table lamp that dispenses cigarettes, strange-looking and wobbling food at a self-service counter...and the list simply goes on. And it's not just one thing at a time. Tati can fill a screen with all sorts of amusing occurrences, some happening in the foreground, some in back, some at the sides.

The last hour of the movie takes place in a modern nightclub, the Royal Garden, which has just opened and is barely ready for its customers. A dance floor tile sticks to a maitre d's shoe, a fish is ostentatiously finished table-side by a waiter...then finished again and again by mistake while the two customers ooh and ah. A bow tie falls in the sauce. A bus-load of tourists suddenly appear. When Hulot manages to accidently shatter one of the glass doors to the restaurant, it is a culmination to all those glass walls we've been looking through and walking into. The follow-up gag with the round door opener is almost worth the price of the DVD. As the modern restaurant gradually disintegrates around us, Tati finally begins to ease up on personal viewpoints and let's us simply enjoy the sight of people becoming more like people. And that, I suspect, is the point Tati wanted to make. In an odd sort of way, the last ten minutes evoke the humor and warmth of previous Tati movies...a packed traffic circle with all the cars moving slowly together; a father taking a toy horn from his little boy and blowing it, too; the bittersweet last look at Hulot walking past a bus where a young woman he met at the nightclub is being taken to the airport with her tourist group.

If you like Tati's viewpoint on the impersonalization of modern society, you'll probably like Playtime. Some critics call it his masterpiece. If you like Tati, I think Playtime is essential, if only to understand what happened to him. The movie is an idiosyncratic and gallant failure, in my view, and much too long. Still, I'd rather watch Playtime than most of what passes as genius in films today.

The new Criterion release looks very good. This edition has several extra features including supplements about Tati and an audio interview with him. The case also contains an insert with an essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum, identified as a film critic.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Requires Active Viewing Participation, January 3, 2007

By 

Brian P. Nestor "Nestor the Molester" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Playtime (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

This is a singular masterpiece in film making but totally unlike anything, even for it's day. By today's attention deficit disorder standards, this film is really really odd. But no doubt it is a masterpiece if the viewer is willing to put the effort in to catch all the nuances because this is a film of nothing but nuances. Tati himself is just one of many participants.

There is a plot of sorts dealing with a group of female American tourists and the one women who is the odd duck among them. She meets Tati and they spend the night together dancing at a night club and see in the dawn at a coffee shop. Various bits of business are constantly swirling around them and you could view this picture 10 times before seeing everything. There are many jokes but they are gentle visual puns. Don't expect belly laughs, just a wry but amazing view on modern life.

As is standard practice for Criterian these days the extras on disc two are spectacular. The documentaries on Tati's life and this film are brilliant and helped me understand his art and this film much better.

A gentle film with brilliant use of wide screen (this film would make no sense pan and scan) you need to fall into the picture to enjoy it. But there is an endless wealth of material to enjoy.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blu-ray: I absolutely love this film! It may not be for everyone but for Tati fans, a wonderful BD release!, November 16, 2009

By 

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Playtime (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

French director Jacques Tati is considered as one of the best directors of all time. Known for his comedic work in France, his character Monsieur Hulot has appeared in several successful comedic films such as "Juor de Fete", M. Hulot's Holday", "Mon Oncle", "Traffic" but there is one film that will be his accolade. That film is "Playtime".

Considered a masterpiece by critics, the film was also a commercial failure and was the most expensive film ever created in France as Tati created a set featuring a whole city block with high rise buildings that looked incredibly real. But the film was ahead of its time.

"Playtime" is a visual film with no significant plot, nor does it have much dialogue. It's a film that is driven by its many characters onscreen and the elaborate setup as characters, buildings and vehicles are treated with so much detail on the film, that it just a feast for ones easy as Tati absolutely created a film that was sheer brilliance.

But part of the problem was his risky gamble on 70 mm widescreen and stereophonic sound. Many theaters were not equipped to handle that and to make things worse (but understandable) is the lack of dialogue which can easily turn off audiences. So, needless to say, the film didn't do well in France and also in America.

It's after Tati died in 1982, is when people found admiration in his work and seeing how his films were truly amazing.

"Playtime" is like a smorgasbord of life being changed by modern technology and as Tati was known to do, lambast modern society as he was a man that was definitely "old school" to the time of his death.

The film revolves around Tati's famous character Monsieur Hulot and an American tourist named Barbara.

For Monsieur Hulot, he easily gets lost in the city and leads him to adventures to various areas such as an office building (which he had a problem with today's modern architecture) as he gets lost trying to get to his meeting and ends up being pulled away to a high-tech trade expedition, a high-tech apartment and then leads him to nightclub known as the Royal Guarden.

As for Barbara, she just wants to experience the beauty of Paris. She accompanies her (loud) American friends but she rather enjoy France her own way. Obviously Barbara had different ideas in mind of Paris but instead she receives a modernize setting.

The film culminates with the carousel of cars as Barbara must leave the city and sees almost a carousel/parade of all these vehicles all around her and how all the people react. What we see is a city that has been transformed to a festive, enormous metropolitan playground.

"Playtime" focuses on these two characters (and other characters who shows up more than once), Tati showcases modernization (which looks beautiful) but it's that demolishing of the France that he loves and now getting used to this new France is what makes "Playtime" quite entertaining.

Viewers can watch "Playtime" with its original French audio but also an International version which features the film in English.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Playtime" is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 Aspect Ratio). Accord to Criterion, the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal for this format. The HD digital transfer was created on Spirit Datacine from the 35mm reduction internegative made from the 65 mm interpositive. Thousands of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixl Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

"Playtime" is featured in its original French language but also a alternate International soundtrack which features a few scenes with English dub.

As for the audio, the audio is presented in lossless stereo. Criterion mentions that the soundtrack for "Playtime" was remastered at 24-bit from the orignal stereo audio stems. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using Audio Cube's integrated audio workstation.

Subtitles are provided in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Playtime" comes with the following special features:

* Video introduction by writer, director, and performer Terry Jones - (6:13) Terry Jones talks about "Playtime" and what he remembered when he watched in on the theater for the first time, what he thought about the film and also a little information about Jacques Tati.
* Selected scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp - (46:44) A well done commentary by Philip Kemp as he talks about certain scenes from the film. Kemp definitely giving an intelligent and yet smooth delivery for commentary for the film. Very informative!
* Au-delà de "Playtime," a short documentary featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the production - (6:30) Featuring a behind-the-scenes look of how the set was created for "Playtime" and video footage of Jacques Tati with the cast and crew.
* Tati Story, a short biographical film - (20:38) A featurette celebrating the work of director Jacques Tati. Featuring photos and video of Jacques Tati from when he was a child to when worked on his final film. Very good insight to Tati's personal life and his career.
* "Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot's Work," a 1976 BBC Omnibus program featuring Tati - (49:28) Featuring an interview conduced by Gavin Millar who interviews Tati at the Hotel de la Plage about M. Hulot and films that the character has appeared in.
* Rare audio interview with Tati from the U.S. debut of Playtime at the 1972 San Francisco International Film Festival (Courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives) - Featuring Jacques Tati at the 1972 SF International Film Festival (discussion moderated by Albert Johnson) and insight of Tati's feelings of the film being showing in the US and his appreciation for the American fans who enjoyed the film. A great audio recording that gives us insight of Jacques Tati.
* Video interview with script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot - (12:09) Sylvette Baudrot talks about working on the film and reveals some secrets of how Tati made this film work.
* Cours du soir, a 1967 short film written by and starring Tati - (27:41) A short film in which features Tati teaching a mime class.

Also, included is an essay (in the insert) by Jonathan Rosenbaum (a film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987-2000) titled "The Dance of Playtime".

JUDGMENT CALL:

"Playtime" happened to be the first Jacques Tati film that I have ever watched. I was familiar with his character of M. Hulot but for years, I have wanted to watch and experience the film.

The first thing that I found surprising is the attention to detail as the unbelievable set Tati's company had created was just fantastic. The buildings look modern, the set looks like a major section of Paris with all the people, buildings and vehicles. And sure enough, "Playtime" is a film that utilizes everything on screen to show how modern technology has literally chanted the landscape. Some who embrace the changes and convenience of modernization and some who feel they are left behind and are literally lost.

What makes this film work outside of its incredible set is that Tati is a perfectionist. He literally directs each person in the film. Everyone has an import part to play. May it be how characters have this choreographed walk as they go off in several directions to characters at a restaurant as we see people dancing on the dance floor, each person dancing differently. While servants are trying to get the food out and you see visual gags as one servant clearly has their eyes on something inside the club, while another is attentive to the female patrons and those who are desperately trying to get their food out. It may seem chaotic, but Tati knows what he wanted to get onscreen and succeeds.

"Playtime" features absolutely beautiful cinematography as we see bungalows on the work floor which work almost like a maze. We see buildings that appear to be metallic and the lighting automatically synchronizing when they turn on. We see vehicles move almost in synch with other vehicles.

We see people throughout the city in similar routines at work, we see people promoting the latest in modern technology ala the late 60's and what is most amazing is that there is hardly any dialogue. It's like you are given an upfront look at how life is in the city and seeing how various people react to each other.

The film plays out quite interesting as the first half is dedicated to various characters such as M. Hulot who has a business meeting but ends up getting lost in all the modern settings. Barbara is a tourist who has accompanied several American women to Paris and finds the city to be quite breathtaking. We see Monsieur Hulot getting lost in offices from buildings that look alike.

But then the second half of the film focuses on a nightclub known as The Royal Garden that is opening and yet not ready. We see how the builders and the restaurant staff prepare for their major night despite the nightclub not yet ready. Where the first half was quite visual, the second half focuses more intimately on the people of the nightclub and the film becomes more gag-driven but yet with so many people in the film, Tati did a wonderful job in making sure each character had some part in the film and contributed in some fun or hilarious way.

A visual film without dialogue may seem boring and monotonous but fortunately Jacques Tati included a good number of gags to make the whole 124 minutes a bit lively. I did... Read more ›