Jacques Tati's first feature came as a salve to the horrors of war and its resulting despair (check out the trailer as proof) and the film's sweet sensibility seems designed to make the post-war French audience feel good about itself. It details an innocent, peaceful time in the countryside in which a traveling fair comes to a small village, almost as a reward for surviving the heartache of the previous decade; and the happy villagers flock en masse to forget about their stresses for a day. Tati plays the village mail carrier, a self-righteous but likable beanpole who, after watching a film at the makeshift cinema about advances in American mail delivery, attempts to mimic them in all their ridiculousness using only his trusty bicycle. Tati has no problem poking gentle fun at his character's stuffiness but also delights in the absurdity of the feeling of inferiority the French seemed to have assumed; after years of living under the yoke of the Nazis and then the Allies, their competition with America is presented as needless and silly. (It's not for nothing that Tati's character is named Francois.) As a comedian, Tati seems to derive his influence primarily from Buster Keaton's graceful and perfectly timed stunts, but his take is more wobbly--you really feel the danger of what's happening on screen almost as if it were unrehearsed. (Among other stunts, he rides his bike through a fire and cuts in front of an oncoming car.) While there are no real laugh-out-loud moments, there are plenty of warm chuckles and some really pleasurable recurring gags, particularly with a cross-eyed old man. But where the film shines is in its poignant conclusion, where the promise of a carefree future is personified by the child who adopts Tati's responsibilities after he sheds them to fade into the anonymity of the peasantry. As long as you come into "Jour de Fete" with the right attitude and appreciate it for what it represents, you'll have some fun.
Review of Jour de Fête
