PLAYTIME

French director Jacques Tati isn’t as widely known in America as Charlie Chaplin, but deserves as much acclaim for expanding the potential of big screen comedy, and Playtime is his indisputable masterpiece. As his onscreen alter ego Monsieur Hulot (who appeared in two earlier Tati films), the filmmaker and star drifts through a vast, intricate set loaded with visual gags that comment on contemporary architecture, design, and technology. Though he barely mutters a word, Monsieur Hulot embodies the sense of confusion from an older generation confronting an alien world overwhelmed by modernity. Sliding doors, cubicles, and a crowded dance floor all figure into the character’s awkward journey through various parts of Paris, as plot takes a backseat to the cinematic equivalent of a popup book, as Monsieur Hulot stumbles through one baffling structure after another, roaming a world moving too fast for him to process it. This is a deceptively simple work that even younger audiences can enjoy getting lost in, though it grows deeper with repeat viewings, especially on the big screen. Writing for The Guardian, Martin Scorsese described Playtime as a movie with the uncanny ability to “stretch the possibilities of time, space, sound, and color to their limits, well beyond what we were used to seeing in most comedies.”ComedyPT1H55M2025-08-15
Jacques Tati
Barbara Dennek
Rita Maiden
Jacques Tati
Bernard Maurice
PLAYTIME"PLAYTIME"

Showtimes

August 15, 7:00 pm

Southampton Playhouse