Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
"Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (original title)

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

Director:

Jacques Tati

Writers:

Henri Marquet (dialogue), Henri Marquet (screenplay),

Stars:

Jacques Tati, Louis Perrault, André Dubois

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jacques Tati	...	Monsieur Hulot
Louis Perrault	...	Fred
André Dubois	...	Commandant
Lucien Frégis	...	Hotel Proprietor (as Lucien Fregis)
René Lacourt	...	Strolling Man
Raymond Carl	...	Waiter
Nathalie Pascaud	...	Martine
Micheline Rolla	...	The Aunt (as Michèle Rolla)
Valentine Camax	...	Englishwoman
Suzy Willy	...	Commandant's Wife
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marguerite Gérard	...	Strolling Woman

Storyline

Monsieur Hulot goes on a holiday to a seaside resort, but accidents and misunderstandings follow him where ever he goes. The peace and quiet of the hotel guests don't last very long with Hulot around, because although his intensions are good, they always turn out catastrophically.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | holiday | vacation | seaside | bathing resort | 

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Taglines:

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!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French German English

Release Date:

16 June 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mr. Hulot's Holiday

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Discina Film, Cady Films, Specta Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 100 min (1955)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In English version, Christopher Lee dubbed the entire film.

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Goofs

When Hulot first enters the hotel and closes the door behind himself, we see his cap on his head while bending to pick up the suitcase. Next, when he straightens, the cap is in his hand with the suitcase.

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Quotes

Opening Titles: Mr. Hulot is off for a week by the sea. Take a seat behind his camera, and you can spend it with him. Don't look for a plot, for a holiday is meant purely for fun, and if you look for it, you will find more fun in ordinary life than in fiction.

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Connections

Referenced in High Fidelity (2000)

User Reviews

Brings its own popcorn.

If you do not have the time or money to travel back to 1953 to spend a French holiday, you might as well just watch M. Hulot's Holiday. Honestly holidays are stressful and barely ever as good as you want them to be anyway, while this movie was much more than I expected it to be.

The humor in the film is warm, never condescending or patronizing to the characters. There is always the sense of fun. The movie really sells itself to me by not making Mr. Hulot a buffoon alone in the crowd. Circumstance and happening reveals everyone to be capable of situational humor, the accidents of the movie are shared with a laugh.

It is an observational movie, and the majority of the humor is not forced, neither upon us nor upon the movie itself. It merely shows how people can get involved in each others' lives, how funny the average day can be. It is like attending a family reunion, really. The camera does not stick itself to Mr. Hulot, but goes anywhere for a laugh. If a small boy is doing something funny, the camera will be there to capture it all, and then leave the boy. This would make another film feel large, but because there is no story to the film, because there is no main character to feel especially attached to, it always feels personal, it always feel like you are seeing something nobody else is.

Perhaps the best part is that the film sticks with you for days afterward, and soon Mr. Hulot's Holiday shows its real genius, as you start noticing similar things happening around you.