Mon Oncle

The Man From Oncle

Mon Oncle
France/Italy 1958
Directed by Jacques Tati
Studio Canal UK Blu Ray

Mon Oncle is the second of Jacques Tati’s films where he plays his beloved character Monsieur Hulot (uncredited, for some reason). It was made five years after Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (reviewed here) and he won Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards for his trouble. 

This time around we see Hulot living in an apartment of a maze like, multistory house (which was actually two houses put together) and, said house and his elabourate route to his apartment at the top is definitely something I’ve seen done before... or rather, after. Like I said in my review of the previous movie, these films were much loved and cast a very long shadow of influence on the film industry (globally, not just in France). I’m sure, for example, there’s a very similar sequence rendered in homage in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch (reviewed here). 

Most of the action, though, is split between the local environment... as Hulot collects his sister’s son from school and also takes walks around the neighbourhood with him... and at his brother-in-law’s high tech home, built by his company. The sister is played by Adrienne Servantie, her husband is played by Jean-Pierre Zola and their ‘always up to mischief’ son is played by Alain Bécourt. There’s also some action at the brother-in-law’s factory as he tries to employ Hulot to help him out. 

Like the first movie, there’s not too much dialogue and it’s a slow comedy of observations as Hulot and the local populace find themselves in various comical situations and eccentricities. There’s the road sweeper who talks so much to all and sundry that he never manages to move his pile of rubbish, for example. Or the wonderful moment when a dog is snarling at the toothy fish that Hulot has in his bag.

About those dogs... the movie begins and ends with a bunch of dogs, rummaging through the bins of the neighbourhood in the morning and, this is where the film also ends. And these dogs are prominent anchor points throughout the film, one of which is the dog owned by Hulot’s brother-in-law, 

Now, I have to say that, this one is another slow burn of a movie and, unlike Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, I didn’t quite warm to this one in the same way and so I prefer the first one. I have to say though that, like the first one, the film is extremely clever and has a lot of great visual gags. Such as the way Hulot has to angle the open window of his flat in just the right way every morning so that the reflection from the sun hits the canary in the building opposite to get it to sing. Or, when he’s trying to fix a problem caused by the kid (involving some decorative plant life) and he’s in the grounds of the high tech home at night, the two round windows at the top of the house become eyes that follow him around with the pupils made up of the husband and wife peering out into the night. 

Also, unlike Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, this film is shot in colour and there are some really nice colour combinations captured for the film, not least of which is the combination of hues found in the high tech home itself. The mise en scène is absolutely stunning in this and even if some of the comedy antics of the various characters don’t quite wash with you, the film at the very least looks great so, yeah, something for everyone, perhaps. 

In a way, this film reminded me a little of the Peter Sellars vehicle The Party (which my friend Kerry used to love so much) and, as I said in my previous review, the influence of Tati on Sellars, especially his work on the Inspector Clouseau films, seems pretty obvious (and I’m sure Rowan Atkinson and his Mr. Bean creation must also have been heavily influenced by Tati too). 

Okay, I think that’s me just about done with Mon Oncle. Unlike the first Hulot film (which I really have to watch again soon), this one felt a little flatter to me but I could still marvel at some of the clever, visual jokes and I can certainly see why this film captured the imagination in the way it did. I shall certainly be continuing with these films, for sure.