Playtime (1967): Creating Beauty and Humour in Chaos. A Masterful Comedy.

Jacques Tati’s film Playtime (1967) is mesmerizing in the way it plays with the cinematic language. A film that is chaotic purposefully but executed with masterful craftsmanship. Tati toys with modernity and technology and subsumes political commentary through humour. I was actually astonished by the film and its intricacies and never expected much before my first viewing but only got to know how good it was through some reading that I have been doing with French Cinema and this movie had caught my attention for it had this peculiar image and when deciding to watch it I never imagined the kind of cinema I would be watching. I have entered the world of Jacques Tati for the first time and I could not be happier. Jacques Tati was at first a Mime in profession and after having been involved in World War 2 as a soldier fighting for the French, He had got acquainted with cinema and from then has done only 6 feature films but is often regarded as one of the best filmmakers in the world. He is in the golden line of filmmakers like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. His experience as a comedian and mime is put forth in his cinema.

I would rather just tell the plot of Playtime through its Wikipedia handle because to me it really doesn’t have a plot in a specific way so it goes like this, “Clumsy Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) finds himself perplexed by the intimidating complexity of a gadget-filled Paris. He attempts to meet with a business contact but soon becomes lost. His roundabout journey parallels that of an American tourist (Barbara Dennek), and as they weave through the inventive urban environment, they intermittently meet, developing an interest in one another. They eventually get together at a chaotic restaurant, along with several other quirky characters.” Even though this is how the plot goes I dare say it does not matter because the movie is all about the potential attraction and inevitable growth of technology and modernity and architecture.

Playtime is so detailed intricate and meticulous that it takes so much out of you in a scene (In a good way of course). What Tati creates is a slew of action, motion and characters in a scene that makes us the audience do the work. There is actually so much going on all in sync and co-ordinatley with such precision. Tati creates multiple action and comedy amongst characters in the background that you will surely miss because Tati is delivering to your various amounts of information all at once. But will this not distort our viewing? Well, that is what I thought at first but what I experienced is something that I would like to call “Beautiful Chaos”. What I mean by this is that even though everything looks chaotic there is a beautiful way in which it is delivered and that all has to go to the craft and cinematic touch it is played upon. Just try it out when watching the movie. First view a scene and then rewatch that scene multiple times to see what and all has happened in the background. It is just that immersive and sometimes I just can’t believe this film was created during the 1960’s. This is particularly true during the sequence that takes place at the high-class restaurant “Royal Garden” which has a runtime of about 50 min. This whole sequence is what “Beautiful Chaos” can be attributed too. The way it is structured and the amount of information and incidents that occur and also the number of characters that are popping up are enormous and even when all that happens Jacques Tati masterfully maintains a way to deliver the humour and slapstick comedy that was intended. Even the art design in the film is astonishing. It looks all so real and authentic even when watching it now. The way the buildings and the ambience and atmosphere are portrayed. It really does look like a futurizing modern France. His character Hulot is one of a recurring character all through out his films. Like I said he is on the lines of Chaplin and Keaton so most of his films don’t have much dialogue but it is not necessary because it is the action and movements on the frame that matter. But David Lynch had once said that even though there is not much dialogue in a Tati film and it could be watched in silence “Sound” is still very important in a Tati film and I see what David Lynch is talking about because even in this film the way sound also plays a role is comedically true. This is wholly due to the fact because I believe Tati plays with the surrounding objects and uses them for comedic purposes, this is especially evident with the chair scenes.  

Playtime at the core is a satirical view on technology modernity, and the ever-growing complexities in architectural designs all over the world but especially in France. Jacques Tati is probably saying that we humans will be so attached to these complexities and modern technology that we cannot live with out them. I mean think about it are we not like that now? This film was made during the 1960’s and Jacques Tati seems to have warned us and it came to be true. He did it in the manner of humour and slapstick comedy a satirical view on it and his messaging is done in a very engaging way and this kind of social commentary on modernity and technology still holds to date. Most of his films seems to be on this line of social commentary and I cannot wait to watch his other works.

There is actually so much I can go about this film and talk in detail about many scenes but I feel it will defeat the purpose of why this film was created. It must be experienced without spoiling much. A film that I think does not even have a single close-up shot and it actually shouldn’t because that was never the purpose to the craft of the work. The title is perfect and apt for this film because we the audience have to sort of play a “game” when viewing the movie and Jacques Tati is saying that we must do the work and that in itself is such a great achievement in cinema. This is a masterpiece in comedy and a masterful film onto itself I have never experienced a film like this before and I don’t think I will anytime soon. Yes, I understand I am praising a lot about this film but to finally say it. “This is one of the best films I have watched ever.”