Jour de FêteDirected by Jacques TatiScreenplay by Henri Marquet, René Wheeler and Jacqu

Jour de Fête
Directed by Jacques Tati
Screenplay by Henri Marquet, René Wheeler and Jacques Tati
France, 1949

Watched on 2nd August 2014
First viewing

Jacques Tati’s Hulot films are among my all-time favourite things in all categories of things. Now I am the delighted owner of StudioCanal’s new blu-ray box set. I have been watching through the set in chronological order, starting with his early short films. Those are interesting to see, but only one of them (L'Ecole des facteurs, aka School for Postmen) hinted at the brilliance that Tati would later develop. Last night I finally got to watch his first feature film. Somehow I’d never seen it before…

Jour de Fête features Tati’s postman character from L'Ecole des facteurs, who is now given a name: François. He starts out delivering the post at a leisurely pace, often stopping to talk, drink, dance, and help his fellow villagers with their chores. When the local fête’s cinema shows a documentary on the efficiency of American postal workers, François is shamed and inspired to match their pace, leading to an hilarious sequence of gags mostly adapted from the earlier short film.

WhileL'Ecole des facteurs focuses solely on the postman trying to do his rounds at breakneck speed, Jour de Fête features characters from the whole town on the day of a visiting fête. The people struggle to erect a flagpole in the town square, the café owner repaints his chairs which then refuse to dry, a visiting carnival worker flirts with a local girl (much to his wife’s annoyance), and an old lady comments on it all while she’s out walking her pet goat. It’s not so much a story as an observation, good-natured and full of inventive gags both visual and audial.

If Tati’s early shorts were the work of an artist trying to find his own style, his debut feature film is where he most definitely found it. From there he would make three of my favourite films ever: Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot,Mon Oncle, and Play Time. I look forward to revisiting them all soon, and adding Jour de Fête to my rounds in future.