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| Mon Oncle [1958] | ![Mon Oncle [1958]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JTZY3ATEL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Jacques Tati
Actors: Jacques Tati, Jean-pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie, Lucien Fregis, Betty Schneider
Studio: Bfi Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £14.98
You Save: £5.01 (25%)
New (5) from £12.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 2309
Format: Full Screen, Pal
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Original Language)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Running Time: 111 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5035673006047
ASIN: B0006687TO
Theatrical Release Date: November 3, 1958
Release Date: November 29, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
A comic masterpiece from director-star Jacques Tati (Playtime, Traffic), this 1958 film--Tati's first in colour--reprises the carefree, oblivious title character from the director's hilarious international hit Mr. Hulot's Holiday. This time, the story finds Hulot, a self-involved twit on a constant collision with the physical world, grappling with 1950s-style progress. Visiting his sister and brother-in-law in their ultra-progressive household full of noisy gadgets and futuristic decor, Hulot inevitably has dust-ups with modernity, each one exceptionally funny. Taking a page from Buster Keaton's play book, Tati also employs his trademark techniques with sound and production design to achieve the indefinable, comic genius of his films: the rhythmic clacking of footsteps, the cartoon-panel distance of his camera frame from the heart of the action. (Why are funny things funnierwhen seen from a few extra feet away?) Tati is one of the cinema's great treasures, and Mon Oncle is unforgettable. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Tati meets the future, and he prefers the present August 10, 2008
In this classic movie from 1958, Tati plays his usual character Mr. Hulot. He lives in an old, rundown part of town, while her sister, married to the manager of a plastics factory, has a shiny futuristic house in the suburbs, with a lot of goofy gadgets. (Of course, what was presumed to be the future in the 50s wasn't always what it turned out to be, and that sort of retro futurism is fun). The movie has very little dialogue, a silent-movie like musical score, and a number of gags involving Hulot being utterly confused by the modern gadgets in her sister's house (though, to be fair, few of those gags are laugh-out-loud funny). Actually, what I found even more fascinating than the retro futurism in Mon Oncle, watching it now, is the look of the old part of town where Hulot lives (we see the France of the 20s and 30s, still existing in 1958, but soon to be razed down, as it has been seldom been shown on color film). And if Tati wanted to say that the old France was more humane than the new, ugly, futuristic France shown in the movie, well, he has my vote.
 Sweet, but very s l o w August 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Had I not seen the superlative "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" first, possibly I would have enjoyed this more. As it is, I was expecting too much and therefore disappointed. It seemed to go on for too long, the visual humour was amusing to begin with but ultimately repetitive. It was impossible to compare the house full of gadgets - which apparently someone had copied so they could own one the same (why?) - with Monsieur Hulot's as we never see inside his. The funniest part was where the posh visitors came, all tip-toing and squeaking around on the crazy garden slabs and the dolphin fountain going crazy. If the film had been about 20 minutes shorter it might have come over as a tad less tedious.
 Well worth a look. April 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is another fine example of the art of visual comedy & you may need to watch it a couple of times to get all the nuances & background humour.
Unfortunately, it is probably 20 - 30 minutes too long & gets a little turgid at times but, on the whole, is a fine way to spend an evening.
It's not as immediately accessible as Hulot's Holiday but then again, that is the pinnacle of this art form.
Watching Jacques Tati, it is easy to see where the inspiration for Mr Bean et al came from.
Fantastic.
Charming, amusing and beautiful February 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I fell in love with Mon Oncle as a boy in the 70s when I caught part of the movie on TV, though back then I didn't know what it was or who Jaques Tati was. Even then as a young boy I just loved the way it looked, the architecture, the tinkling French music, exaggerated colour and sound, the quirky characters. It wasn't until I was at art college and happened to attend a showing of Mon Oncle that I knew the name of the movie I had remembered so vividly for 20 years.
Today the appeal of Mon Oncle has not lessened, though I have watched it many times, and nor has the nature of its appeal changed for me. Most people say they like Tati/Hulot because of his great comedy. I don't. I generally detest mime and silent comedy with a passion. I don't find any of Tati's movies particularly funny and I am a little suspicious of people who do...sensing a case of the 'Emporer's new clothes' pseud syndrome...like people who laugh just a bit too loud at Shakespeare's 'funny bits'.
Of course now I'm older I 'get' Mon Oncle's satirical references to 50s modernism which passed me by as a child. But Tati's contemporary Tony Hancock did this equally well yet is not considered 'high art' to the same extent as Tati, though I think The Punch & Judy Man was a concerted effort from Hancock to elevate his perceived status artistically. I have also been a huge fan of Hancock's comedy since I was a child (listening to my dad's Hancock & Steptoe 45s in bed) and I think the big difference is that, though Hancock's humour was just as well observed and explored many of the same themes as Tati's (see The Expresso Bar, The Poetry Society or The Oak Tree....the latter is comparable with Betjamen's Inexpensive Progress or The Village Inn!), it simply lacked that French chic and aesthetic of the time...and it's that that I love about Mon Oncle. Though there are certainly cleverly timed set pieces, nicely observed sequences and amusing running gags in Tati's movies (in Jour de Fete in particular), they are not laugh-out-loud funny, and they are not what make me return to this movie time and again.
I still love Mon Oncle for the same, shallow reasons I loved it when I happened to catch some on TV as a child. I love its aesthetic. I want to live in the movie, I want to climb up to Hulot's ramshackle garret, I want to ride his bike through the Parisian market square, I want to walk around the immaculate garden of M. Arpel, I want to wander on the waste ground and buy a pastry off the tinker with the stove cart. Another thing which I think appealed to me as a boy is the fact that little really happens in Mon Oncle, the story is pretty nebulous, but there is so much going on in the periphery. That's partly why it still appeals today; many of the scenes are long takes shot from a more or less static position giving a broad view of, say, a bustling street. It reminds me a little of a painting by Lowry - the viewer is put in the position of watching the world go by their window - and like a Lowry painting it is busy with scenes comprised of separate little tableaux in which you manage to see something different every time.
Satire Has Never Been This Charming! January 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Arpels live in a world filled with ultra modern appliances that are all too clever to be of any real use. However, Madame Arpel's brother, Monsieur Hulot, lives in a world where a water feature and a laser-controlled garage door have no place. Hulot's world consists of horse-drawn wagons, corner stalls, and broken-down walls. When these two worlds collide, things tend to get broken. In addition, Hulot is considered to be a complete nuisance by his brother-in-law, Monsieur Arpel. Despite this, Hulot persists to enter his sister's domain, if only to marvel at an unbreakable coffeepot or to show his nephew the wondrous universe beyond his parents' electric gate.
Mon Oncle is a remarkable example of cinema and well deserved its Oscar for best foreign language film in 1959. Even though there is not much language in this movie, the little dialogue that is here is quite clipped and inconsequential. But this does not matter, as the true genius of Mon Oncle is in its visuality. There is a rich use of colour in this film, as each scene is put together beautifully. Be it the minimalist visions enhanced by the odd flash of vibrant colour within the Arpel's technologically advanced "Maison," or the autumn colours that gloriously clutter the landscape surrounding Monsieur Hulot's home, the visuals are exquisite. Mon Oncle is very much a visual masterpiece. Yet, that is not all it has to offer, as most of the jokes use not language, but sound, to heighten the impact of the comedy. Never before or since has the loud "clickety-click" of high heels or the gong of someone inadvertently walking into a lamppost been enough to make you howl with laughter!
Hulot is the creation of the movie's director and star, Jacques Tati, and Mon Oncle is not his only adventure. Each of his other films depicts a similar style. And, with this character, Tati reignites and modernises a genre of comedy that would have probably died away with the talkies.
Tati brings Hulot alive, through his attention to detail in his direction and in the delightfulness of his performance. This is a film that will enchant its audience. And, fans of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin should revere Jaques Tati, as the greatest, "almost," silent comedian.
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