Les Vacances de M. Hulot

1953 Director Jacques Tati

The first appearance of Hulot and a masterpiece of gentle slapstick.

Pipe-smoking Monsieur Hulot takes a holiday at a seaside resort where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another.  Tati's wildly funny satire of vacationers determined to enjoy themselves includes a series of precisely choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers. 

This is a masterpiece of comic timing and running gags that made Tati famous. It's a delight to watch and captures a gentle, less rushed time, now long forgotten. Many of the participants were local people employed on the spur of the moment. The Hotel still exists unaltered in Saint Marc sur Mer, where this was filmed. In fact, the town erected a statue of Monsieur Hulot on the promenade overlooking the beach where most of the action was filmed. A very fitting tribute to a true cinematic gem.