Mon Oncle
ArthouseSchmarthouse

Review by ArthouseSchmarthouse Patron

Mon Oncle 1958

★★★★½

Watched 22 Dec 2024

8.5
DVD (BFI)

The first Tati that I "get" right off the bat, and therefore my favourite of his so far. MON ONCLE is an absolute splendour, a clever, playful, mostly dialogue-free cavalcade of music, colour, subtle physical comedy and endlessly escalating running gags that will take multiple viewings to completely appreciate. A satire on 1950s French upper-middle-class ultra-modernity and social mores, but not one, I think, in which Tati is necessarily against progress per se. Rather, Tati's argument is that whilst progress is inevitable, it should be human, it should have character, it should have soul, it should respect tradition. It should facilitate community rather than neuter it. It is for this reason that Tati constantly contrasts the joyless sterility of the Arpel home (and the plastic factory-- very MODERN TIMES in places) against the ramshackle chaos of Hulot's home in the city. It is not necessarily a case of one being inherently better than the other, but rather it should be possible for society to enjoy the best of both: the material comforts and conveniences of the former and the character and soul of the latter. These themes-- which also feature in Tati's more celebrated PLAYTIME-- reflect contemporaneous debates happening in much of the postwar world, but they have surprising resonance even today. Ultimately, more than anything, the film is a celebration of what it means to be a child: to have the freedom to run, to be free, to be wild, to play silly practical jokes with your friends and to eat endless sugary treats. In this regard, the two images which end the film-- the street dogs rambling wild and free and the touching moment of bonding between father and son-- feel both thematically on point and surprisingly moving.

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