Monsieur Hulot, the unemployed dreamer, clashes daily with the sterile world of his hypermodern brother-in-law in Paris. Mon Oncle (1957) by Jacques Tati is a classic that you can see at Lab111.
A Jacques Tati classic on the big screen
Mon Oncle (1957) is a French film classic by director Jacques Tati. The film won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958. In this 4K restoration, you see the film in renewed image quality, as Tati intended.
The story: Hulot between 2 worlds
The protagonist, Monsieur Hulot, lives in a cozy, messy neighborhood of Paris. His only daily activity is picking up his nephew from school. Afterwards, he takes the child back to the parents: his sister and brother-in-law. They live in Villa Arpel, a hypermodern house full of gadgets. For Hulot, who is not good with technology, that house is a daily source of frustration.
Humor about progress and modernity
Tati uses little dialogue. The humor lies in the images, sounds, and timing. The film raises questions about modernity and humanity, but does so lightly and with a sense of absurdism. The shots are constructed like little paintings; conversations sound like background noise.
