Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in an age of high technology reached their apotheosis with his 1967 film Playtime.
For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the lovably old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a baffling modern Parisian world.
With every inch of its super wide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lasting record of a modern era tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.
Introduced by Matthew Sweet (BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking). Following the screening, Sweet, Catherine Wheatley (Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London) and Bristol Ideas director Andrew Kelly will discuss Tati’s legacy.
Director: Jacques Tati
Starring: Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Jacqueline Lecomte, Valérie Camille
U / France / 124 mins
This programme is part of Opening Up the Magic Box, a heritage element of Film 2021 which marks the centenary of the death of Bristol-born film pioneer William Friese-Greene and the 125th anniversary of the first public cinema screening in Bristol, which took place at the Tivoli on 8 June 1896, as well as celebrating Bristol – a UNESCO City of Film since 2017. It is generously funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Tati Day is also part of Future City Film Festival. The festival normally takes place every two years in the autumn but had to be postponed last year due to the pandemic. It will now run through 2022 as a series of special events. We are grateful to the British Film Institute for their support for the festival.
Supported by
Presented in partnership with
Matthew Sweet is author of Inventing the Victorians, Shepperton Babylon, The West End Front and Operation Chaos. He presents Free Thinking and Sound of Cinema on BBC Radio 3 and The Philosopher’s Arms on BBC Radio 4. He has judged the Costa Book Award, edited The Woman in White for Penguin Classics and was Series Consultant on the Showtime/Sky Atlantic series Penny Dreadful. His fashion history column, The Line of Beauty, appears in 1843 magazine. Follow him on Twitter @DrMatthewSweet
Catherine Wheatley is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London. She is the author of Stanley Cavell and Film: Scepticism and Self-Reliance at the Cinema (2019), Michael Haneke’s Cinema: The Ethic of the Image (2009), and Caché (2011). With Lucy Mazdon, she co-authored Sex, Art and Cinephilia: French Cinema in Britain (2013) and co-edited Je t’aime, moi non plus: Anglo-French Cinematic Relations (2010). Before joining King’s in 2011, she worked as a Research Associate on a four-year AHRC project based out of Southampton University, looking at the history of French cinema in Britain, and then as a Lecturer in Screen and Media Studies at the University of East London. Follow her on Twitter @CateWheatley
More Tati Day Screenings
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City Films
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City Films
Booking Information
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Tickets are £8.50 full price / £6.00 concessions. A day pass to all three Tati Day films is available and costs £20.00 full price / £15.00 concessions. CONCESSIONS apply to Full Time Students, Job Seekers Allowance, Incapacity Benefit claimants, over 60s and disabled people. Please note that you will be asked of proof for your eligibility of a concession.
One free carer ticket can be provided for each paying disabled visitor, please contact us before booking to arrange.
We only refund tickets if the event is cancelled. If the event online has to move online your ticket is automatically transferred or you can request a refund. Events start punctually and, out of consideration to other audience members and speakers, our policy is not to admit or issue refunds to latecomers. Full Terms and Conditions here.
Accessibility
One free carer ticket can be provided for each paying disabled visitor, please contact us before booking to arrange.
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If you have any accessibility requirements, please contact Arnolfini in advance so the team can assist you in your visit. More information about Arnolfini can be found on Arnolfini’s website and on AccessAble.