Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)

Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot is a French film comedy first released in 1953, directed by Jacques Tati.  The film stars Jacques Tati, Louis Perrault, Nathalie Pascaud and Michèle Rolla.  It has also been released under the title: Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.


Monsieur Hulot sets out for his summer holiday at the peaceful seaside resort of St. Marc-Sur-Mer.  No sooner has he arrived, in his trusty old jalopy, than the nightmare of his fellow holiday-makers begins.  Oblivious to the whirlwind of chaos he creates about him, Monsieur Hulot makes the most of his holiday – boating, horse-riding and playing tennis.  For some, the holiday from Hell cannot end soon enough...

Having established himself as a director and comic performer of the first rank in Jour de fête, Jacques Tati received international acclaim for his next film, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.  The film won a brace of awards across the globe, not least of which the Prix de la Critique at Cannes in 1953 and the Prix Louis Delluc 1953.  Significantly, the film introduced the character of Monsieur Hulot, Tati’s alter-ego, who would feature in most of his subsequent films.

An extraordinary mélange of slapstick comedy (often veering towards the surreal) and visual poetry, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot paints a portrait of French middle-class life which is both charming and cruel.  It shows not only Tati’s flair for visual comedy (which is virtually unsurpassed in French cinema, comparable only with that of the great Buster Keaton) but also his particular talent for observation.  There is so much detail in this film that it is impossible to take it all in and appreciate Tati’s genius by watching the film just once.  Like all great masterpieces it demands much closer scrutiny to see the skill of the great creative force behind it (the same applies equally to Tati’s subsequent films, notably Mon Oncle and Playtime).

In common with much of Tati’s work, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot has an oblique autobiographical side to it - the film appears to say as much about the observer (i.e. Tati himself) as the observed.   On the surface, the film is a cheerful satire on the French bourgeois holiday, principally concerned with mocking well-to-do ladies with their absurd hats and quaint double standards.   On closer examination, other facets begin to emerge and the film appears more melancholic more despairing, than comic.  Abandoned children become more visible, Hulot appears a much more solitary individual, and even that eccentric English lady assumes an aura of Greek tragedy.  It would be stretching it perhaps to say that Tati intended this film to be about the suffering of the human soul, but inescapable loneliness is a recurring theme.  The soundtrack is strangely divorced from the images, giving the film an odd dream-like feel.  It is as if the events depicted in the film were being viewed in retrospect, from a distance, perhaps by Hurlot recalling the happier times in his life...

Whatever Tati’s intentions, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot is a remarkable and hugely original piece of cinema, quite different from anything else at the time and since.  The seemingly endless stream of visual jokes are brilliantly realised and have a timeless quality which ensure that the film will continue to entertain future generations.  And for those who want more than mere comedy and wish perhaps to divine something of Tati’s elusive inner soul, this singular cinematic postcard may be just the ticket.

© James Travers 2002

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