With: Jacques Tati (M. Hulot), Jean-Pierre Zola (Charles Arpel), Adrienne Servantie (Mme. Arpel), Alain Becourt (M. Arpel), Lucien Fregis (M. Pichard), Betty Schneider (Betty, landlord’s daughter), J.F. Martial (Walter), Yvonne Arnaud (Georgette, the housekeeper), Adelaide Danieli (Mme. Pichard)
Director/Producer: Jacques Tati
Production co: Specta Films, Gray Film, Alter Films, Film del Centauro
Screenplay: Jacques Tati, Jacques Lagrange, Jean L’Hôte
Photography: Jean Bourgoin
Editor: Suzanne Baron
Music: Frank Barcellini, Alain Romans
REVIEWS

“Young Gerard Arpel feels alienated and constricted in his parents’ house, in which ingenious modern gadgets replace human effort and precision scheduling passes for interaction. Therefore he loves to spend time with his Uncle Hulot (Tati), whose home resembles a nest at the top of a ramshackle old house in a lively, impoverished quarter of the city.  Much of the humor of this delicately timed comedy comes from the relationship of these two innocents to the house itself, which functions like a frighteningly beautiful and entirely superfluous machine.  A highlight of the film is the garden party thrown by the Arpels in a last-ditch attempt to distract Uncle with a lady friend and thereby gain back their son’s attention; here minimal dialogue combines with maximum sound effects, brilliant color photography and choreographed movements to create a futuristic Fifties fantasy.”

​— Pacific Film Archive 

“Insane gadgets slam and roar, high heels click like metronomes, and even a depressed daschund in a tartan overcoat obligingly submits to Tati’s meticulous direction.”

— Time Out

Restoration by Les Films du Mon Oncle
FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Canterbury
Monday, 5 March, 7:30pm

Palmerston North
Monday, 9 April, 6:00pm*

Wellington
Monday, 16 April, 6:15pm*

Waitati
Tuesday, 17 April, 8:00pm

Nelson
Thursday, 26 April, 6:00pm*

Dunedin
Wednesday, 2 May, 7:30pm

Auckland
Monday, 7 May, 6:30pm*

New Plymouth
Wednesday, 16 May, 6:00pm*

Tauranga
Wednesday, 16 May, 6:15pm

Whanganui
Monday, 28 May, 7:00pm
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Queenstown
Tuesday, 12 June, 8:15pm

*Denotes DCP screening
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