112 Playtime

[Person]

The vision isn't bleak, as I see it. It seems to become more and more disappointed with humanity. There's an underlying sadness to his film that is, however, alleviated by a love of life and for people, when they are relieved of the shackles of modern society. With that said, I dread to think what kind of movie Tati would make today. The world has become a frenetic, sleazy, immoral asylum.

[malcolm1980]

I'm hesitant to buy this DVD since there is a possibility that CC (or any other company) might release the entire Mr. Hulot series of films in a box set.

What are the chances of that happening?

Very slim from Criterion. They've repeatedly said they have no plans to release Traffic.

Oh, they say that. Then a year, six months later, here it comes. LOL. Like what happened with Seven Samurai (been wondering whether or not there will be an upgrade then, BOOM! an upgrade).

[SheriffAmbrose]

here it comes.

Is there new evidence that this might happen or are you just getting in on this conversation three months late?

[Matt]

here it comes.

Is there new evidence that this might happen or are you just getting in on this conversation three months late?

I think he's just speaking of a general pattern with Criterion, not anything specific about this particular film.

[SheriffAmbrose]

here it comes.

Is there new evidence that this might happen or are you just getting in on this conversation three months late?

I think he's just speaking of a general pattern with Criterion, not anything specific about this particular film.

That's a shame.

[Svevan]

There's been a lot of talk about seeing this film in 70mm, and I'm sure it's played in that format since the last post a few years ago. But anyways, a 70mm print is playing at the Castro on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 8th and 9th (they seem to play it often, or yearly); I will probably drive down from Oregon ($100 worth of gas!) just to see it.

[Hopscotch]

While I can't directly recommend to you spending all that money on gas, you should totally see Playtime in 70mm. It's incredible.
So I guess I am telling you to spend all that money on gas.

[Svevan]

I'm freaking out. Every piece I read about Playtime is overly eager to point out that it's hard to "get" the film in its first viewing. I have never seen it (though I've seen the other two Tati Crites), and I'm scared out of my mind that I'm not going to like it the first time, even on 70mm. Should I watch the DVD on a small screen first or should I just dive in with the projected film?

I'm having virginal anxiety about this whole thing. I've actually delayed watching the Playtime reissue since it came out for this very reason.

[Magic Hate Ball]

I'm freaking out. Every piece I read about Playtime is overly eager to point out that it's hard to "get" the film in its first viewing.

What? It's not like it's some ridiculously multilayered Fellini/Bergman joint project look into the depths of the human soul. It's some poor guy getting jammed up in a futuristic French city, and it's absolutely hilarious. See it on the big screen.

[Haggai]

I'm freaking out. Every piece I read about Playtime is overly eager to point out that it's hard to "get" the film in its first viewing.

I assume the people writing that either haven't seen any other Tatis or (maybe more likely) are writing with an audience in mind that hasn't seen any of them.

But since you've seen the previous two that are already out on DVD, and are obviously impressed enough with them to consider driving a huge distance to see Playtime in 70mm, it definitely won't be a problem for you.

[Matt]

It's not so much that you can't "get" it in the first viewing, it's more that there is so much going on in the film that it takes multiple viewings to catch it all.

[zedz]

It's not so much that you can't "get" it in the first viewing, it's more that there is so much going on in the film that it takes multiple viewings to catch it all.

Two major advantages of seeing this on the big screen are that the small details are more noticeable (most obvious in the extremely dense restaurant scenes) and that every member of the audience is seeing a slightly different film because of that density (and because of their position in the auditorium), so people will be laughing at different moments according to which part of the screen they're looking at, and those individual laugh tracks will prompt alert viewers to scan the tableaux for the passing gag.

The film increases exponentially from DVD to 35mm, and I imagine that the expansion from 35 to 70mm is of a similar order. I reckon it will be gas money well spent.

[Faux Hulot]

While I can't directly recommend to you spending all that money on gas, you should totally see Playtime in 70mm. It's incredible.
So I guess I am telling you to spend all that money on gas.

I drove from upstate New York to Silver Springs, MD see a 70mm screening, and that was at least the fifth time I'd seen it projected. So, maybe I'm also the wrong guy to ask, but I'm with Hopscotch.

[Perkins Cobb]

Agreed -- if there's ever a film to see projected in 70mm, it's Playtime, especially if it's a good theatre and the film is new to you. One of the greatest experiences of my life.

[Svevan]

Thought it'd be right to relate how much I enjoyed and valued the experience of seeing Play Time in 70mm. The Castro seems like a nice place for this type of screening, and they have a yearly 70mm film festival that I am going to pay attention to next year.

The theatre was packed, by my standards, though we were nowhere near filling the 1400 seat maximum (I'm a bad guesser, but I would estimate between 200 and 400 people). I sat fairly close, and hoped my expectations weren't too high. After the 7 hour trip (stretched out by our car breaking down in the middle of the Northern California hills, and needing to be replaced by another one whose GPS was equal parts curse and blessing; wish I could say it was Tati-esque, but it wasn't) and the stress and the fear, that I wouldn't make it, that I wouldn't like it, that the projector would break or the theatre would be sold out, after all of that there was no way the film could have lived up to my expectations. I had set it up too high.

But after seeing the film - sitting for two hours laughing, commenting to my friend, hearing the crowd laugh and knowing that I had missed something, sometimes laughing all by myself because I saw something no one else saw, or I was the only one who thought it was funny - I knew that it was worth it. (Why don't people think that the gliding lady is hilarious?)

I feel like I am just beginning my journey with Play Time; thanks to comments from this forum, I deliberately waited nearly 5 years so I could see the movie projected instead of on DVD (I probably missed several screenings cause I wasn't looking). The Criterion reissue was an impossible attraction, and I even ordered it from Netflix once only to return it unwatched.

After the movie was over and we hopped back in the car to begin the trek back to Oregon, I got to see the city lights glowing in the darkness, not unlike the final shot of the film. San Francisco is definitely not Paris, but it was better to see the film in a city with crowded streets and tall buildings than at home on my Mac. I love Rosenbaum's observation that the exit music is the title music, played as a segue into the real Play Time that we all live. I definitely felt that.

Anyways, thanks.

[Michael]

One of the most beautiful films ever made. I feel so alive to exist with such art like Playtime. It's the best expression of an artist showing us how his mind processes the world around him.

[Haggai]

Great story, Svevan! Good to hear it was worth it. The Castro is definitely one of the best theaters anywhere, and seeing Playtime in 70mm is indeed an experience well worth having.

[colinr0380]

Sorry for the following disordered comments on the film! I've only just seen it and thought I would post while first impressions are still buzzing around my head!

I like the way that the film doesn't exactly condemn technological progress and innovation but the way that it is being carried out without any allowance for individualism in culture (love all those interchangable 'see Germany/USA/Britain' posters!) or behaviour patterns. This is combined with the way the changes are forced on people rather than being sensitively carried out - a way of thinking that suggests that you conform to the product rather than the product conforming to you best shown through the ubiquitous (and uncomfortable looking) chairs! I like the way that the chairs spring back into shape as soon as anyone stands up from them, perhaps signifying the way that people don't really matter in the world, that any trace of human presence or effect on the environment is not allowed to remain permanently. Only those people who specifically were commissioned to design the environment are allowed to have their presence become permanent - the rest of us are just uncomfortable, unwelcome-feeling visitors to this manufactured world.

Enough to make anyone go out and graffiti something in a tiny act of rebellion!

I also liked the way that the floors are mostly covered in shiny, slippable surfaces, which makes everything seem much more intimidating and cold, not to mention dangerous for the frail or brittle boned to fall on! This reminded me of a local indoor shopping centre near to where I live that a decade or so ago revamped its floors with marble-styled tiles. It looked quite impressive (in that generic way of all shopping centres) but for months afterwards the local paper was full of little articles about people falling over and slipping on the new surface! What made this funny, and ties it into the idea in Playtime of we the users being at fault more than the original decision to tile the floor in hard, slippery material, is that it became a common sight to see a little yellow sandwich board with a caution about slippery surfaces that was obviously a sign that yet another person had gone head over heels within the previous couple of days! That caution notice, while most likely done with the best of intentions, left no doubt that it was considered to be the fault of the person who fell over for not making sure they had taken care on the surface rather than the fault of the surface itself being unsuitable for the task (which of course would call into question the thinking behind the choice and the money spent on the refurbishment - too many vested interests would obviously be at stake to easily admit such an error).

Going off on a tangent - one of the interesting things about all this attention on China in the run up to the Olympics is the way that I've seen a number of television programmes talking about the building boom in the country, that the way China can create such huge architectural changes is inspiring jealousy amongst the rest of the world and that the new world-changing architects will come from that country. This seems unsurprising to me, since experimental and unorthodox architecture mostly needs to be done in spite of the people living in the area rather than in conjunction with them - the buildings may come to be accepted in time or remain something apart from people's lives but it still doesn't get away from the fact that many of these projects are pushed through on the national level and that this is just more emphasised in a country like China. I guess a lot of the excited comments being made should be considered more veiled suggestions of thinking of just how great it would be if we didn't have to consider the feelings and livelihoods of people already living in the area to be developed!

Back to Playtime - It is interesting to see the way that people cannot be completely contained, though I think that the way the restuarant scene takes on a manic, destructive quality suggests that heavily constrained behaviour drives people to extremes in their leisure time to try and escape or rebel from daily life. That one of the unforseen consequences of trying to order people to the nth degree is the magnification of bizarre and unpredictable behaviour as if in almost subconscious response, along with escape through drink whenever possible!

In addition to that there is a critique of professionals, or more specifically a group of professionals who move into officiousness. While I sympathise with the owners of the restaurant trying to keep things held together or the busy office manager Hulot is trying to talk to and at the other end the various doormen and Hulot's army pals good naturedly getting along in the world, I find the film is more scathing about the 'little Hitlers' - the characters who insist that Hulot uses the proper turnstile exit in the shop; and the people who make already difficult and confusing situations needlessly petty and rule driven or even more disastrous through their incompetence. The restaurant waiters illustrate this latter point through being variously: young and inexperienced, accident prone, drunkards, and laciviously preening themselves in front of all the female customers and generally acting like God's gift to womankind! (This also seems a development from the waiter in M. Hulot's Holiday, almost having an aneurism over the behaviour of his clientele!)

I thought it was interesting that in the restaurant scene officiousness also relates to the various posh restaurantuers who comment disapprovingly about our female lead's green dress and shoes, and the way that the exclusivity of the restaurant is parodied by the destruction of the environment by Hulot and the boisterous American to create their own enclave! Then when the professional jazz band give up in disgust it is left to 'the people' to create their own music, a challenge our female lead rises to admirably. An ironic twist on this idea of professionals getting upset can also be found during Philip Kemp's commentary when he talks about an Irish journalist intending to savage Tati's film for the way he treats the 'professional extras' as if they were just anybody, maybe not realising that he is perfectly describing the theme of the film!

I thought the use of the boisterous American gent was quite fun - maybe there is a slight political comment in the way he breezes into the film, upsets all natural order by wanting to sit at a table that has already been reserved for others, destroys the place while throwing money around and promising to pay for the damage, takes the party into the streets and then gets called away in a similar rush (to an embassy car?)

He suggests an attitude to life that is opposite of the sterile environment - that you shouldn't take things so seriously that you cannot have a good time. It probably helps that he has the money to pay for all the damages though!

This perhaps compares with the group of female American tourists who similarly use their foreign trip as their playground and have the money to buy whatever catches their eye at the trade fair. Could this mean Tativille is similar to Disneyland Paris - foreign destinations for tourists who aren't bothered about actually seeing any French culture? (Except for the official state sanctioned flower seller to tell you that you're in France of course!)

There is perhaps a hopeful notion at the end of the film that humanity both adapts to, and forces adaptation onto, their environment. That in just interacting with a impersonally designed city people change it for everyone else - for better and worse! And that this applies just as much to those in power who design our environments as it does roaming gangs of drunks! One of the very best ideas in the film is that a lot depends on our perception of our environment - we can find the magic and beauty in things like the workmen moving the pane of glass or the final carousel sequence or we can get more and more upset and frustrated that we are trapped on a never ending roundabout with no idea of when we will get off! That way lies madness!

[Michael]

Fantastic reflection (as usual), colin!

[gubbelsj]

Yes, excellent analysis and welcome thoughts. I do enjoy when senior members re-visit older releases and offer some insightful commentary - always enlightening!

I periodically send movies through the mail to both my parents and in-laws, usually along with a brief essay explaining why I think they might enjoy this or that film, and while I’ve had lots of success stories, Playtime was a rare failure. Both sets of parents were flummoxed by the film, and even to this day my in-laws refer to it as “that weird one”. My parents reacted the same way, but bravely dug into the Criterion supplements, and came away with a broader understanding of Tati’s intentions and some of the larger meanings behind all the complicated set pieces (my in-laws were forced to view the film on a smaller screen, which may help explain their reaction). I’ve read previous posts in which people were worrying about whether or not they were “prepared” to view Playtime, and while I think this is a pretty approachable work (if the viewer has been given a few basic facts in advance), I do understand why some are worried. It is a somewhat difficult slice of existentialist despair, or maybe just modern urban angst. And one of the key difficulties in approaching Playtime is in understanding how it forms a key piece of evidence in Tati’s small, rather odd, unique and lonely niche in world cinema. “Tativille” can refer not just to the cityscapes within his films but also to the idiosyncratic environments one enters anytime you sit down to watch a Tati film.

Colin has already covered so many ideas that I won’t go on for too long, but he’s reminded me of how much I enjoy this film and the other works of Tati I’ve been fortunate enough to see. I guess it’s safe to say I buy into most of Tati’s idiosyncrasies (does that make me a bitter Luddite?). The notion that language often seems to exist merely to hinder or confuse communication, his observance of the absurdities of bourgeoisie-driven status symbols, and a general dismay with the antiseptic tendencies of encroaching modernism all register pretty clearly. As somebody who more often than not feels clinically depressed after seeing row after row of single-use zoning dwellings or the mall glut choking suburban landscapes, I find Tati’s despair right on, and disturbingly prescient. And what’s fascinating about Playtime is how Tati’s earlier concerns with individual consumer choices have become redirected into larger concerns over urban environments (And speaking of individual consumer choices – it’s interesting how in Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, sputtering cars are constantly breaking down along grassy French country roads as bemused bicyclists pass them by, a scene I almost feel I’m witnessing on the opposite end of the cheap-oil-era as bicyclists around the greater San Diego area weave in and out of frustrated Hummer, SUV and pickup truck owners standing flummoxed as gas pumps click off after reaching the $100 mark…sorry, just a brief editorial here).

Far be it from me to suggest a remake of Playtime, but Colin’s thoughts on China got me thinking about another rapidly modernizing urban environment – Dubai. My wife recently returned from a long journey which took her to the United Arab Emirates several times, and her comment that the city skyline had noticeably changed within the three weeks between her visits made me instantly think of Tati. Colin’s observation that postmodern development often seems to be done in spite of the inhabitants rather than conjunction with them rings even more true in a city such as Dubai, in which world tourism trumps any and all concern for local cultural environments. My wife brought back a glossy state-sanctioned book on the impressive accelerated growth of the city entitled Tomorrow’s City Today. Among the endless pages of golf course views and resorts designed to be seen from space exists a single page making brief mention of “Keeping Traditions Alive,” which seems to involve a photo of a ship’s carpenter walking away from a new vessel’s wooden skeleton. I wonder what Tati might have thought of such an uber-Las Vegas – the urban environment completely trumping any concern for the local inhabitants.

[colinr0380]

I guess it’s safe to say I buy into most of Tati’s idiosyncrasies (does that make me a bitter Luddite?). The notion that language often seems to exist merely to hinder or confuse communication, his observance of the absurdities of bourgeoisie-driven status symbols, and a general dismay with the antiseptic tendencies of encroaching modernism all register pretty clearly. As somebody who more often than not feels clinically depressed after seeing row after row of single-use zoning dwellings or the mall glut choking suburban landscapes, I find Tati’s despair right on, and disturbingly prescient. And what’s fascinating about Playtime is how Tati’s earlier concerns with individual consumer choices have become redirected into larger concerns over urban environments.

I feel much the same way and feel Luddites are given a bad name - it is less a reaction against technology than the way people are forced into using badly considered pieces of kit by superiors who have no understanding of whether the latest thing is actually suitable to the environment or the job! From my previous work as a legal secretary I would say Home Information Packs fully fall into this category!

I love technology and think generally technological development is a good thing. However the problem seems to come about when innovations move to the wider society and everyone is expected and required to have the latest mobile phone or the most up to date version of Windows or so on. In a wider context it seems that the decision makers get star struck over just how great that idea was, whether it is a giant database of personal information or becoming infatuated with creating new urban developments or high rises, and end up (consciously?) ignoring complications or problems in a rush to push through their plans - I'm thinking here of high rise buildings seen as the height of 60s architecture and pushed through by the government that became run down, impersonal (interchangable) and dangerous areas because they were created "for the people" in a top down manner rather than looking at what 'the people' might have preferred to live in. This of course is where lobby groups and people with the ears of the 'decision makers' are able to pull strings to get their projects pushed through.

I suppose we could even push this blinkered methodology of pushing new builds and techological devices to the masses 'for their benefit' into governmental policy areas with the suggestion that the second Iraq War was something pushed through supposedly "for the people" of Iraq, the US and the world but in fact with alternative agendas under the surface of simple benevolence. Once it is done, like architecture, you just have to live with it and modify some of the smaller facets in order to be able to go on living there.

[stereo]

What are odds of a Playtime blu-ray?

[swo17]

Given that an HD transfer already exists, and that this film, more than most any other in the Collection that I can think of, screams out for Blu-ray treatment, it would seem to make sense to expect this to come out at some point (hopefully sooner than later). However, this is just speculation, and is surely contingent on 1) Playtime having sold well in the past (I have no idea about this), and 2) Criterion's BD experiment paying off (only time will tell).

[Matt]

I'd like to recommend politely that we limit speculation of Blu-ray releases to the Criterion Blu-ray thread. Otherwise, we will shortly have 364 (and rising) threads each with a post saying "What are the odds this will show up on Blu-ray?"

Once a title is announced in the Blu-ray format, though, there's no reason not to discuss it in the same thread as the DVD release.

[stereo]

point taken; my bad..