9. Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953), dir. Jacques Tati

[strange_complex]

Seen with ms_siobhan, planet_andy and big_daz at the Cottage Road cinema. IMDb page hereYup, it's another of the Cottage Road Classics. The evening of course began with the usual vintage adverts. We were informed that Shell has the power to lubricate, and that Bobbi perming solution would not give us kinky curls. We also got to see some gloriously 1970s adverts for Coke and

Comments

[ms_siobhan]

It was such a top feel good film and laugh out loud funny :-)

Not sure I can cope with West Side Story but Mr Pops is very excited about Lawrence of Arabia. If we do go and see Lawrence I'm booking pullmans as it is about 17 hours long.....that is a slight exaggeration but it will feel like that.

[strange_complex]

Luckily I feel much the same as you about West Side Story, and much the same as Mr Pops about Lawrence of Arabia! So I'm sure we can come to some arrangement there. :-) You're probably right about the Pullman seats, though!

[poliphilo]

I nominate the deflating wreath as the funniest thing in the cinema ever.

Tati was a perfectionist, so he didn't actually make that many films. I think there are perhaps four or five that feature the Hulot character.

[strange_complex]

It's a strong candidate! And yes, Tati must have been perfectionist, because the deflating wreath shouldn't be that funny - but the way he presents it in context means it is.

We were dying to know how the floating paint-can was even done - patience and good luck? A magnet? A string? We couldn't spot the trick, whatever it was.

[segh]

How lovely to find someone else who loathes Mr Bean!

[strange_complex]

I actually Googled "mr bean hate" last night while writing this entry to see if I was the only one. In fact, it seems we're far from alone. I get that he is supposed to be repugnant, and that that is part of the comedy - but somehow it goes beyond a joke for me. I could handle an eternity on a desert island with Basil Fawlty, or indeed Blackadder. But not Mr. Bean.

[segh]

Atkinson was a year ahead of me at Oxford and his appearance in the ETC review of '76, which was a prototype Mr Bean, had London critics coming up and the Oxford playhouse rocking. I sat there wondering what everyone else was laughing at. I assumed I was the only one!

[big_daz]

I thought it was excellent- I think I need to seek out some of his other films.

I was having a look at the filming location on Google Streetview afterwards and the Hotel is still there but the boarding house isn't. There's a new promenade on the seafront with a statue of M. Hulot looking out to sea though.

[strange_complex]

Ooh, good idea - I'll have to check it out myself. That's sweet about the statue. :-)