#80 - Meu Tio

Meu Tio
Mon Oncle
França, 1958
Dir.: Jacques Tati

"Mon Oncle features some of Tati’s best visual jokes - such as the house-proud wife constantly switching on and off her ornamental garden fountain whenever a guest arrives, and the high jinks at the plastics factory, where Hulot manages to get a machine to produce plastic pipes in the shape of strings of sausages. As in many of Tati’s films, contrasts are made between children (whom Tati most closely seems to identify with) an adults (who are usually portrayed as idiots). The artificial pomposity of the Arpels is ridiculed whereas the natural rebelliousness of the young boys is glorified. This suggests a parable of innocence in which the children, who have yet to succumb to the charms of technology are shown to be wiser than adults who, for reasons of greed or vanity, have made technology their god. That Hulot seems to get on better with children (and stray dogs) only serves to underline this simple message. Not only is Mon Oncle an a greatly entertaining piece of cinema, it is also frighteningly prophetic. Forty years on, the charming world inhabited by Monsieur Hulot has all but disappeared and, to a greater or lesser extent, we have all ended up slaves of technology, much of which is of dubious benefit. To this audience, watching Mon Oncle can be a poignant experience. As we laugh at the exploits of Monsieur Hulot and his inability to adapt to a changing world, we see something of ourselves and perhaps nurture a secret yearning to return to a simpler, less technologically orientated way of life." James Travers