Mr. Hulot's Holiday - Analytical Essay

Kevin Smock

2 February 2014

      The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of French cinema is probably the New Wave of the 1960s and names like Godard and Truffaut. However, before we received a taste of those young, radical filmmakers we had directors such as Robert Bresson, Max Ophuls, and Jacques Tati. Just as daring and witty as some of the great American silent film geniuses was Jacques Tati. Although the core of his career was during a time where the talkies ruled, Tati depended on images and unique sound design to tell his stories. His pictures are reminiscent of a Chaplin film in the sense that they care little for dialogue and often satirize current society. Not to mention, Tati as Mr. Hulot might be just as comical as Chaplin as the tramp.

     In 1953, Tati released a comedy titled Mr. Hulot’s Holiday. An interesting aspect of this film, which is also noticeable in Tati’s, My Uncle, is the fact that the narrative structure is completely unlike that of a three-act structure or anything conventional. Not to say one sort of structure is better than another, it really all depends on many other components that make a film. In Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, events go by day by day in a rather repetitive and monotonous fashion (already satirizing the vacationing class of France during the time), but what makes the movie interesting is the way in which Mr. Hulot interrupts the day-to-day mundane activity by defying what the ordinary adult would do. It is a film that takes many of the same events and twists them into something new; it turns repetition into variation, developing a sense of narrative.

     To me, the most applicable theme in the film is the defiance of the trivial life-style of modern “adults.” It is a film of non-conformity and promotes a sense of outside of the box, loner thinking. This message is conveyed constantly throughout the film, but it is really boiled down in one of the last scenes. Throughout the film, Hulot is unable to identify and relate to his contemporaries. He is stuck between having the charisma and imagination of a child while also embodying an even more mature mindset than his peers by overlooking what they harp on. This leaves him to be the synthesis of the laid-back child while also being the knowledgeable, easy going, satisfied old man. What a beautiful blend.

This theme also visually rings true during the famous dance scene: In the foreground we see the romantic and atmospheric dance of Hulot and the young lady juxtaposed with the uptight politic-crazed uproar of the other adults in the background. At one point, Hulot cranks up the music to shut out the bland voice coming from the radio in the other room, which speaks volumes on Hulot’s character and the theme of the film.

Hulot identifying with the youth is seen throughout the film. During one highly comical scene, Hulot’s car (which has just as much character as him) breaks down at a funeral ceremony of all places! A kid on a bike witnesses this and gets a huge kick out of it. Although he’s laughing at Hulot’s expense, that’s much more comedy any other adult could ever dream of giving this young man.

Also, in the lobby of the hotel two young girls come walking in with heavy hiking bags. Hulot helps one of them carry her bags to her cabin. The rest of the young people present at the cabin convince Hulot to take a drink with them. It’s suggestive that Hulot ends up spending a decent chunk of time partying with them.

One of Hulot’s weaknesses is the ice cream cart, similar to what a child’s weakness might be. Whenever he spots it, he cannot take his eyes off of it. The big taffy-like substance that comes near to touching the ground at a few points is just mesmerizing to Hulot. This is visually suggestive to Hulot having a very strong youthful side to his character.

On the contrary to unification with the young, we also witness Hulot having a sense of unity with the elderly. Throughout the film, Hulot pulls these hilarious, eccentric stunts that he as a person just cannot avoid. While the other adults find his unfortunate, awkward behavior unacceptable, the young as well as the old also find it entirely amusing and even heart warming. The frames below show the old man admiring Hulot’s misadventures on the beach when he accidentally traps one gentleman in a car and also shows the old man smiling at Hulot as he dances with the young woman.

There is a moment in the film when Hulot plays a high energy game ping pong with an elderly woman in the back room of the hotel while, in the foreground, the other adults play a trivial, lifeless game of cards which Hulot accidentally destroys in a highly comedic scene that so wonderfully employs dramatic irony. We know Hulot’s movements through the room bumps one man and causes him to put down a card on a table he’s not really playing on without him even realizing he’s doing because he’s looking intently at his hand. This moment is a catalyst for the accusations that follow and end up causing chaos. The audience sits back and laughs at the fact that Hulot is the source of it all.

And finally, we witness the other adults in the vacation town shutting out Hulot’s eccentric, well-intended ways.

     What really makes this film so wonderful are all the motifs, the development of the motifs, and what the motifs say about the characters. Throughout the film we’re treated to a beautiful piece of music that generally kicks in every time Hulot or the young girl in the film are seen either together or alone. It’s audible in the beginning of the film (where it is then so wonderfully juxtaposed with the pain-staking sounds of the train station), when the woman arrives to the resort, when Hulot arrives to the resort, after Hulot and the girl meet, when the girl plays her turntable, when Hulot and the young girl dance, etc. Another motif, and I think the most important one, is that whenever Hulot is around his peers he just radiates a sort of misfortune for others. Also, this element of the film is particularly strong when it comes to the man who runs the restaurant. For instance, when Hulot first arrives at the resort he’s preparing to unload all of his belongings. He keeps the door open as he gathers his things, which results in a gust of wind blowing into the packed lobby where all the vacationers are. The strong gust sends papers soaring through the air, causes fake mustaches to be revealed, and even causes the pouring of tea to be spilled!

When Hulot makes it to his room he pours a bowl of water out of his sunroof, a very innocent act. Well, it just so happens two men are reuniting with one another as the water poured from the bowl down the roof spits out of the drain pipe causing them to get a little wet. This is just the beginning… On the beach, a local shore man is in the middle of painting his boat. Terribly timed, the chain crank that is holding the boat in place is interfered with and causes the boat to slip away, not only causing an undesired streak of paint across the boat but also causing the boat to launch into the sea. The shore man, with a contemptuous look, sets his sight on a bystander. He is innocent though and cues the shore man in on who really did it with a slight head nod towards the culprit. Wonderfully timed in the editing room, we’re revealed to Hulot who is guiltily leaning up against a volleyball post. Later in the film, Hulot is waiting in the living room of the young woman’s home before they go horseback riding. He struts around the room admiring all the great art and tinkering with it. He ends up offsetting all the paintings on the wall in one way or another, sometimes not even knowing it. Executed with such comical and visual wit, Tati makes something so mundane so enjoyable to watch.

Discussed earlier was Hulot’s encounter with the man in the dining hall. Two particular scenes really appealed to me. The first is a moment when Hulot walks into the hotel lobby and is simply adjusting himself and observing himself in the mirror. The hotel employee is just always so distracted by Hulot that when he goes to pour tea into a customer’s cup, he ends up spilling it all over him. Hulot had no part in this wrongdoing, it’s just his nature to send off that kind of energy.

Another instance, again of complete innocence on Hulot’s part, he’s just walking through the hotel lobby, maybe looking for something. The employee, having such a brutal (yet also impersonal) history with the man, cannot take his eyes off of him. Well, a few beats earlier the employee drops one of his possessions into the fishbowl (perhaps his pen, my memory is a bit fuzzy) and preparing to fetch the item out of the bowl, the employee rolls up one of his sleeves. At that moment though, Hulot catches hit attention and at this point in the narrative you almost expect it; The sleeve the employee rolled up intending for it not to get wet is not on the arm that he dips into the bowl. Hulot, per usual, distracts the employee so severely (by doing nothing extraordinary) that the he immerses his rolled down sleeve into the fishbowl accidentally. Hilarious.

Each time anyone enters the dining hall, which basically serves as the melting pot for monotony and triviality in the film, a loud “BONG” type noise is heard. Tati plays with the auditory element fidelity to further animate and bring the sound to life, almost forcing you to think about the significance of the door opening and closing like it does. This is a great motif that really exploits the boring and lifeless actions that the bulk of the adults take part in, such as discussing who usually sits where in the dining hall like it even makes a difference!

I want to say the Coen Brothers have seen this film and that’s where they got the idea for the sound of Barton’s hotel room door in Barton Fink. Anyone who has seen that film cannot forget what I’m addressing. In that film as well as Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, these noises are not arbitrary choices; they add a whole other dimension to the setting. In Barton Fink, a further sense of bewilderment and curiosity and in Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, a sensation that makes your want to rattle all of the adults in the film and tell them to live a little.

Hulot enters the desirable young woman’s house twice throughout the film. Each time he ends up taking a false step or something of the sort and stumbles all the way through the house out the back door. This is another wonderful sight gag that employs dramatic irony: As Hulot storms through the house, the young woman and the other inhabitants of the house go about their business in the foreground, completely oblivious to what Hulot is up to. No one is ever fully in touch with Hulot, no one can entirely relate to how things happen to him.

The indication of the night coming to an end at the beach town resort is by showing a wide shot of the hotel. This shot reoccurs many different times, but it ends in almost every room in the house flicking on their light due to some sort of interruption that Hulot has brought on. Like most of the motifs in the film, it speaks on a thematic level by comparing Hulot’s more liberal lifestyle to the more conservative lifestyle of the rest of the characters, and usually Hulot’s actions interfere with the lifestyle of the others. For instance, each time the house lights flick on it’s because Hulot and his young companions are producing drunken laughter out front or because his car is making its usual obnoxious noise, or better yet, because Hulot accidentally lights off a firework display. The firework sequence is quite wonderful in the sense that it is the only time the other adults in the film bust out of their dull, regimented shells.

       (Smoke visible from the fireworks)     

     Another reason why this film is so pleasing in terms of its unique structure is the way visual parallels are drawn. The most important one among a few, and again very demonstrative of the theme, is that only certain characters in the film listen to music: Hulot, the young woman, and the child who’s constantly on screen starving to have fun. This parallel suggests that the reason Hulot, although the complete underdog, is the only one who can really acquaint himself with the young woman. The younger men in the film certainly try but she is not interest in the political/ intellectual nonsense they try to lay on her. She would rather spend a simple afternoon partaking is leisurely activity, just like Hulot. The frame below shows the young girl admiring Hulot looking for his ping-pong ball while sending the room into a complete uproar due to his ruining of the card game. In the shot, the young lady is literally overlooking a young man with a book to focus on Hulot.

A similar instance occurs as Hulot is doing a good deed for one of the residents at the resort by giving him a ride. He jerks his car all over the road causing quite the scene. The young woman and a group of pseudo-intellectuals look on appearing somewhat annoyed by the occurrence as the young lady laughs in admiration.

Going back to Hulot’s connectivity with the kid, we see Hulot listening to music alone in a room of the hotel early on in the film. The ferocious volume of the turntable breaks the concentration of the other vacationers. They storm in the room and cut off the power to the turntable. God forbid these bores be graced with any sort of poetic lyricism.

Later in the film, after observing Hulot throughout the vacation and realizing he’s the only one of the adults who knows how to live, the kid pulls the same exact stunt… And so do the adults by cutting off his power.

Early in the film, we of course see the young woman enjoying music in private, which exemplifies the connection between Hulot and the young lady.

Another wonderful parallel in the film is established in the very beginning: Hulot’s commute to the beach town -vs- the young lady’s. Hulot’s malfunctioning car is often causing him to get beeped at and passed on the road. We then see a dog resting in the middle of the road, which gets right out of the way when a car beeps at it. However, when Hulot approaches the same obstacle he has to fight a little harder to move the dog, not to mention he’s great deal more kind about it. This is all in opposition with the young lady’s ease of getting on the train and being treated kindly. The early crosscutting suggests that these two will meet and something will become of it.

     Tati strongly depends on mise-en-scene to tell his stories and he certainly does an extraordinary job. With that being said, you would expect a man so gifted in one way of visual storytelling to lack in the contrasting method: editing; juxtaposing images to create new meanings; manipulating and creating space and time. The first scene puts juxtaposition and contrast to use terrifically. The film begins with images of a beautiful, tranquil beach town. The last shot of this very relaxingly paced scene is a boat. All of this is then collided with a scene of a train station (direct opposition of the boat) and numerous people scrambling to get on it (direct opposition of the peaceful vacancy of nature and slow pacing). It propels the narrative by telling the audience where all of these people are bound for.

Another well cut scene takes place on the beach where an exercise instructor is blowing a whistle at a group of fitness freaks to signal the next step of the routine. We see the instructor blow the whistle and then Tati cuts to the group holding the pose. It takes a few beats too many for the instructor to blow the whistle for the next step, forcing the group to hold a rather challenging pose. We ask ourselves, “Why isn’t this guy blowing the whistle?” Low and behold, we cut to Hulot interacting with the instructor causing him to prolong the next whistle. This sort of comedy cannot be achieved without knowing how to utilize space; concealing and revealing certain spaces is key when cutting comedy.

     Jacques Tati stands in the ranks with some of the most pertinent visual comics in film history such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Similar to Chaplin in films like The Great Dictator and Modern Times, Tati can make his audience laugh from beginning to end while also expressing significant, relevant themes and ideology.