Late one night years ago, on a trip to France for a friend's wedding, in bed with my now wife, while she slept, the television was on and it's there that I found myself watching Jacques Tati's brilliant "Jour de Fete".
Tati, born 1907, after a stint as a professional rugby player and success as a mime, would move into film, starring in all but his last film, and for the better part of his career, as Monsieur Hulot, the bumbling outsider to the rapidly advancing post-war cultural march toward modernity.
"Jour de Fete" however, the most singularly rural of his chosen settings, came two years following his first film, "L'École des Facteurs", a short from 1947 in which Tati first debuted his easily distracted postman in training.
There's much to like about the man and his films. Do yourself a favor, if you haven't already, and acquaint yourself with Tati's films.
Below, "Trafic", 1971. His final M. Hulot film.
