Genial, bumbling Monsieur Hulot loves his top-floor apartment in a grimy corner of the city, and cannot fathom why his sister's family has moved to the suburbs. Their house is an ultra-modern nightmare, which Hulot only visits for the sake of stealing away his rambunctious young nephew. Hulot's sister, however, wants to win him over to her new way of life, and conspires to set him up with a wife and job.
Direction
Tati's architectural choreography is unmatched.
Production
The Villa Arpel: a satirical set design masterpiece.
Sound
Sparse, mechanical soundscape becomes a character.
Director
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati
Monsieur Hulot
Jean-Pierre Zola
Monsieur Arpel
Adrienne Servantie
Madame Arpel
Lucien Frégis
Monsieur Pichard
Betty Schneider
Betty, Landlord's Daughter
Jean-François Martial
Walter
Yvonne Arnaud
Georgette, the Housekeeper
Alain Bécourt
Gérald Arpel
Nicolas Bataille
Working Man
Pierre Étaix
Delivery man / Telegraph operator (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Villa Arpel was a fully constructed set, not a location—Tati designed every absurd gadget himself.
Released as France embraced consumer modernity, the film accidentally predicted our smart-home nightmares sixty years early.
FR
