Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Jacques Tati

Writers:

Henri Marquet (dialogue)
Henri Marquet (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 June 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It's laugh-vacation time as Jacques Tati romps through the most gloriously mad lark ever to tickle the ribs of young and old alike!

Plot:

Monsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation, where he accidentally (but good-naturedly) causes havoc.

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Seaside | Vacation | Holiday | Brittany

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jacques Tati	...	Monsieur Hulot
Nathalie Pascaud	...	Martine
Micheline Rolla	...	The Aunt (as Michèle Rolla)
Valentine Camax	...	Englishwoman
Louis Perrault	...	Fred
André Dubois	...	Commandant
Lucien Frégis	...	Hotel Proprietor (as Lucien Fregis)
Raymond Carl	...	Waiter
René Lacourt	...	Strolling Man
Marguerite Gérard	...	Strolling Woman

Also Known As:

M. Hulot's Holiday (Australia)
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (UK)
Mr. Hulot's Holiday (USA)

Runtime:

114 min | Singapore:96 min | Sweden:95 min | USA:83 min | Finland:100 min (1955)

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/6 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Singapore:PG | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:Approved | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Hotel de la Plage - 37 rue Commandant Charcot, Saint-Marc-sur-Mer, Loire-Atlantique, France

Company:

Discina Film

Trivia:

In English version, Christopher Lee dubbed the entire film.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The Englishwoman declares Hulot winner of the tennis games after 3 points. A game is won by the first player to win 4 points.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)

Classic Humour

The measure of a good film, like a good painting, book or any other work of art, is its ability to draw you back time after time. I first saw M Hulot's Holiday more years ago than I care to remember and loved it immediately. The humour is gentle (it's not a laugh-a-minute riot) with superbly crafted scenes such as a tyre's inner tube transforming into a wreath interposed between the on-going observational humour as portrayed by the strolling husband and wife.

Seeing it again for the umpteenth time it's as fresh as the first time I saw it. In fact having lived in France for the best part of two years it appears even funnier now that it did before, something which, no doubt, reflects my own observations of the French way of life.