"M. Hulot's Holiday" is a Whimsical, Charming Vacation From the Real World

Jacques Tati's M. Hulot belongs more to the silent characters of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton than to reality. Hulot is classically vaudevillian cut figure, right down to is ubiquitous outfit with beach hat and pipe dangling from the mouth. There's a breezy, lighthearted charm about M. Hulot's Holiday. The film is set to a jaunty score by Alain Romans and brightly lit to suggest whimsy and quaintness. Plot-less, purposeless and often a lot of fun, the film is a delight of slapstick and sight gags pulled off with expert timing and execution -- the best of which is a case of mistaken identity at a funeral. Hulot finds himself at a beach resort on vacation surrounded by familiar vacation goer types and stirs up havoc in their little paradise. He moves along irascibly from one moment to the next with little to no consequence or repercussion. He gurgles out half muttered words here and there, but they seem to be projected from the film's soundtrack rather than actually spoken by our protagonist. The sound, in general, is almost entirely absent and non-diegetic and Tati uses it to project sentiments about people, draw caricatures and make amusing satirical comments. Holiday recalls a simpler time of film comedy where the goal was largely not to have a goal but rather just to make the audience laugh as much as possible through physical and visual gesture. The story comes along in spurts, stops to smell the roses on some subplots and snaps back into focus for the ending. And it charms effortlessly, warmly, gracefully even through the lackadaisical gallivanting. 

Grade: A-