Jacques Tati

Jacques Tati proved himself a worthy heir to Buster Keaton with this Oscar winner, for which he built a wealthy family’s house from scratch on a studio lot near Nice. Monsieur Hulot hardly says a word, the gags never stop, and not one modern gadget in the place will do what he wants. — In a crumbling corner of old Paris lives Monsieur Hulot, who has neither a job nor much of a plan. Out in the suburbs his sister has a modernist house where everything is brand new and nothing works the way it should. Hulot comes to visit, and little Gérard adores him, which is more than can be said for the house. — Best Foreign Language Film | Oscars | 1959 Special Jury Prize | Cannes Film Festival | 1958

Jacques Tati built a whole city outside Paris, with its own offices, streets and airport, and spent three years filming there. It bankrupted him, and today it turns up on every list of the greatest films ever made, a delightful comedy in which Monsieur Hulot still gets the laughs. — In a Paris of glass and steel, where every building looks like the next, Monsieur Hulot has an appointment with an official he simply can’t find, and he isn’t much better at finding the way out. A coachload of tourists, meanwhile, is being shown a city it barely gets to see. Everyone is caught in the same glass trap. — Best Director | Moscow Film Festival | 1969

This is where Monsieur Hulot first appeared, with his pipe, his raincoat and that unmistakable walk, and the beach where he takes his holiday is now officially named after him, with a bronze statue of him on the sand. He barely says a word, and you won’t be able to stop laughing. — It’s the height of the season at a small seaside hotel, where the guests arrange their days around deckchairs, bridge and mealtimes, and everything runs like clockwork. Then Monsieur Hulot arrives, intent on taking his holiday seriously. Nothing he lays a hand on gets away unscathed. — Nomination for Best Screenplay | Oscars | 1956