Jour de Fête (1949)

Once a year the fair comes for one day to the little town 'Sainte-Severe-sur-Indre'. All inhabitants are scoffing at Francois, the postman, what he seems not to recognize. The rising of the... See full summary »

Director:

Jacques Tati

Writers:

Jacques Tati, Henri Marquet

Stars:

Jacques Tati, Guy Decomble, Paul Frankeur

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Guy Decomble	...	Roger
Paul Frankeur	...	Marcel
Santa Relli	...	Germaine
Maine Vallée	...	Jeannette
Delcassan	...	La commère
Roger Rafal	...	Le coiffeur
Jacques Beauvais	...	Le cafetier (as Beauvais)
Alexandre Wirtz

Storyline

Once a year the fair comes for one day to the little town 'Sainte-Severe-sur-Indre'. All inhabitants are scoffing at Francois, the postman, what he seems not to recognize. The rising of the flagstaff under his direction nearly leads into a catastrophy - but everybody tells him, how important his work is. Sneering up Francois continues in the evening of the festive day. Made drunk, some 'friends' persuade him to watch a short-movie in a tent. This film is a stunt-show, covered as 'The modern delivery-techniques of the US-post. Francois takes it serious, not recognizing being teased. Next day, after getting sober in a goods wagon, he reorganizes his own delivery-methods. He has not the equipment, as his ideals in the short-movie have, but using only his bicycle, he makes good, funny progresses.

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Plot Keywords:

bicycle | french | mail | postman | written and directed by cast member | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

11 May 1949 (France)

Also Known As:

Jour de Fête

Filming Locations:

Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre, Indre, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cady Films, Panoramic Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min 80 min (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema) 86 min (1960) 79 min (restored) 86 min (original)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (original release) Color (Thomsoncolor) (alternate version, first released after restoration in 1995)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was originally filmed in Thomson-color, a process that became extinct before prints of the film could be shown and was previously only available in a black and white version that was filmed as a precaution, in case the color process was not perfect. In 1995 the color copy was restored and published by Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff, and cinematographer François Ede.

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Quotes

Roger: You don't look so great.
Marcel: Maybe he's got bad news for us.
François le facteur: No, it's just that everything's "Americans this, Americans that." I can't keep up.
Roger: Don't take it so seriously. The Americans are hotshots with planes, but they're useless on bikes.

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Crazy Credits

The bicycle used by Francois gets a mention in the opening credits, along with the featured players: Peugeot model 1911.

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Alternate Versions

Director Jacques Tati shot the film simultaneously with two cameras: one was loaded with color film and one with black and white film, as a backup copy. The film was originally intended to be released in color, but the laboratory could not develop the color film because it was shot using a new, experimental process, so Tati decided to release the black and white version instead. Another version, with some color footage was released in 1961. In 1995 the original color negative was partially restored and some parts of the black and white film were computer colorized in order to generate a new color version faithful to Tati's original vision. This new version was released with a short prologue detailing the shooting history of the film.

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Connections

Featured in The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

User Reviews

An Introduction to Tati

This movie will undoubtedly not be what you expect. The cover-art of Tati DVDs paints him as a Chaplinesque figure, but he's much gentler than Charlie. Charlie was energetic. You'll enjoy Tati's films if you expect a gentle trip to a beautiful little village. Throughout the film you observe more than get really involved. Tati always keeps you at a distance, like a stranger.

I liked Mon Oncle the best first run through, but by that stage it was the fourth of Tati's major four pictures I'd seen, so that must have coloured my impression. The most famous is Les Vacances de M. Hulot, and M. Hulot is Tati's famous character, who appears in Mon Oncle, Les Vacances and Playtime. He doesn't appear in Jour de Fete, which was Tati's first first feature-length.

Tati is the Antonioni of slapstick comedy. There's plenty to look at in his movies, as long as you stop waiting for a narrative. None of them have real stories. They do progress, but its more the visual motifs of the various townspeople that develop throughout.

Of the four I'd say Playtime is the least friendly to first-timers.

All copies of Jour de Fete since 1995 feature the imperfect colour process it was filmed with. Its not colourised, that's just the best colour method that Tati had at his disposal in 1949 in France. Even after restoration it suffers from over-brightening and unevenness in colour, and the overall impression is of a bad colourisation, so just be ready for that, and remember this colour version wasn't available until 1995, before that there was no colour, and I think the colour's an important part of the experience of Tati's fete.

I'd recommend you rent/borrow before buying any Tati, so you know what you're getting. Probably youtube won't be the best place: any small segment of his films won't make sense on its own, they're quite slow-paced, and the characters and scenes are meant to accumulate, not be excerpted.

Happy hunting.