Mon Oncle


1h 56m 1958
Mon Oncle

Brief Synopsis

A bumbler who prefers the simple life takes on the new-fangled gadgets in his nephew's home.

Film Details

Also Known As
Min onkel, My Uncle
Genre
Comedy
Foreign
Satire
Release Date
1958
Location
France

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 56m

Synopsis

A Frenchman tries to stave off the modernization and the new-fangled technological gadgets of society and grows at odds with his brother-in-law whose suburban house is filled with every concievable new appliance. Soon, the former realizes he can't stay living the old-fashioned way forever and his first dabblings with the machines are clumsy ones.

Film Details

Also Known As
Min onkel, My Uncle
Genre
Comedy
Foreign
Satire
Release Date
1958
Location
France

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 56m

Articles

Mon Oncle


Jacques Tati, the idiosyncratic French comedian/writer/director, won the 1958 Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film for Mon Oncle (1958). In the second of three films featuring his character, Mr. Hulot, Tati satirizes a world increasingly dominated by technology, and its effect on the hapless Hulot.

Tati honed his comic skills in French music hall and cabaret, as a mime performer. Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953) introduced Tati's gangling, umbrella-toting alter ego. Tati was so meticulous that each of his films took several years to prepare, shoot and edit; he directed only six features. His films have been called "pure cinema," emphasizing visual humor and sound effects, with very little dialogue. And Hulot has been compared to the creations of the great silent comedians, particularly Chaplin's Little Tramp, and the acrobatic characters of Buster Keaton, Tati's idol. Mon Oncle, in fact, has been dubbed "Tati's own Modern Times."

In accepting his Oscar® for Mon Oncle, Tati paid tribute to the silent film comedians whom he so admired. "If Hollywood had not done so many funny pictures, I would not be here tonight. For all those great comedians, I am not the uncle, but the nephew." In fact, the highlight of Tati's trip to Hollywood was not the Academy Awards® ceremony, but a visit he paid afterwards to Mack Sennett, the producer of many of those silent comedies. Sennett invited Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton to meet Tati, and the French comedian was thrilled when Keaton expressed his admiration "that I hadn't let myself be made a prisoner of the talking film. I'd simply improved on silent techniques."

Sadly, it was Tati's scrupulous attention to planning and preparation, and the resulting long gaps between films, along with his problems in raising funds that ended his career. His next two films, Playtime (1967) and the following one, Traffic (1971), both failed to earn back their high costs, and Tati was ruined financially. He directed only one more film before his death in 1982. But the legacy he left has earned him a place in the pantheon of the great film comedians.

Producer: Fred Orain, Jacques Tati
Director: Jacques Tati
Screenplay: Jean L'Hote, Jacques Lagrange, Jacques Tati
Production Design: Henri Schmitt
Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin
Costume Design: Jacques Cottin
Film Editing: Suzanne Baron
Original Music: Franck Barcellinni, Alain Romans
Cast: Jean-Pierre Zola (M. Arpel), Jacques Tati (M. Hulot), Adrienne Servantie (Mme. Arpel), Lucien Frégis (M. Pichard), Betty Schneider (Betty, Landlord's Daughter) C-117m.

by Margarita Landazari

Mon Oncle

Mon Oncle

Jacques Tati, the idiosyncratic French comedian/writer/director, won the 1958 Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film for Mon Oncle (1958). In the second of three films featuring his character, Mr. Hulot, Tati satirizes a world increasingly dominated by technology, and its effect on the hapless Hulot. Tati honed his comic skills in French music hall and cabaret, as a mime performer. Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953) introduced Tati's gangling, umbrella-toting alter ego. Tati was so meticulous that each of his films took several years to prepare, shoot and edit; he directed only six features. His films have been called "pure cinema," emphasizing visual humor and sound effects, with very little dialogue. And Hulot has been compared to the creations of the great silent comedians, particularly Chaplin's Little Tramp, and the acrobatic characters of Buster Keaton, Tati's idol. Mon Oncle, in fact, has been dubbed "Tati's own Modern Times." In accepting his Oscar® for Mon Oncle, Tati paid tribute to the silent film comedians whom he so admired. "If Hollywood had not done so many funny pictures, I would not be here tonight. For all those great comedians, I am not the uncle, but the nephew." In fact, the highlight of Tati's trip to Hollywood was not the Academy Awards® ceremony, but a visit he paid afterwards to Mack Sennett, the producer of many of those silent comedies. Sennett invited Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton to meet Tati, and the French comedian was thrilled when Keaton expressed his admiration "that I hadn't let myself be made a prisoner of the talking film. I'd simply improved on silent techniques." Sadly, it was Tati's scrupulous attention to planning and preparation, and the resulting long gaps between films, along with his problems in raising funds that ended his career. His next two films, Playtime (1967) and the following one, Traffic (1971), both failed to earn back their high costs, and Tati was ruined financially. He directed only one more film before his death in 1982. But the legacy he left has earned him a place in the pantheon of the great film comedians. Producer: Fred Orain, Jacques Tati Director: Jacques Tati Screenplay: Jean L'Hote, Jacques Lagrange, Jacques Tati Production Design: Henri Schmitt Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin Costume Design: Jacques Cottin Film Editing: Suzanne Baron Original Music: Franck Barcellinni, Alain Romans Cast: Jean-Pierre Zola (M. Arpel), Jacques Tati (M. Hulot), Adrienne Servantie (Mme. Arpel), Lucien Frégis (M. Pichard), Betty Schneider (Betty, Landlord's Daughter) C-117m. by Margarita Landazari

Quotes

Trivia

Miscellaneous Notes

Voted Best Foreign Film by the 1958 New York Film Critics Association.

Voted One of the Year's Five Best Foreign Films by the 1958 National Board of Review.

Voted One of the Year's Ten Best Films by the 1958 New York Times Film Critics.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.

Released in United States 2010

Released in United States May 1958

Released in United States November 1995

Released in United States on Video March 1986

Released in United States Winter January 1, 1958

Re-released in United States on Video August 31, 1994

Premiered at Cannes Film Festival May, 1958.

Shown at Sarasota French Film Festival November 15-19, 1995.

Formerly distributed by Orion Home Video.

Formerly distributed by Nelson Entertainment.

Released in United States 2010 (Guest Artistic Director)

Released in United States Winter January 1, 1958

Released in United States on Video March 1986

Released in United States May 1958 (Premiered at Cannes Film Festival May, 1958.)

Re-released in United States on Video August 31, 1994

Released in United States November 1995 (Shown at Sarasota French Film Festival November 15-19, 1995.)