Tati, Jacques (1908-1982), was a French movie director, comedian, writer, and mime artist. Tati’s films are full of gentle, satirical observation and hilarious visual jokes with virtually no dialogue. Tati made only six feature films during his career. The small output came partly from his difficulty in raising money for his movies and partly because he was a slow, deliberate worker.
Tati is best known for creating a character called Monsieur Hulot, who is the central figure in his four best-known films. They are Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, 1953), Mon oncle (My Uncle, 1958), Playtime (1967), and Traffic (1971). In these movies, which Tati wrote, acted in, and directed, he brought to life a character who was slightly pretentious and politely at odds with modern technology. Hulot was a lanky and awkward man who constantly stumbled into unlikely misadventures. The plots of Tati’s films were primarily a series of incidents. The story was less important to him than the characterizations and visual humor. Mon oncle won the 1958 Academy Award as best foreign film.
Jacques Tati was born in Le Pecq, France, on Oct. 9, 1908. His real name was Jacques Tatischeff. As a young man, he made a name for himself as a rugby football player. In 1931, he made his debut as a professional stage performer with an act built around his facial and bodily mimicry of athletes and referees. Several of his stage routines were made into short films, beginning with Oscar, champion de tennis (Oscar the Tennis Champion) in 1932.
Tati did not turn to making feature films until the late 1940’s. After acting in two features, he made his first film as actor, director, and screenwriter, Jour de fete (The Big Day, 1949). In this comedy, a village postman tries to introduce modern, efficient methods with disastrous results. Tati died in Paris on Nov. 5, 1982.
