{"id":77340,"date":"2026-03-02T09:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T01:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/?p=77340"},"modified":"2026-03-02T09:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T01:36:27","slug":"les-vacances-de-monsieur-hulot-1953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/?p=77340","title":{"rendered":"Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was in this film that Jacques Tati first introduced to the world the character of Monsieur Hulot, whom we’ve seen in Playtime<\/a><\/em>. This is a simpler and less ambitious film, which unfortunately also means that it’s less interesting. The gags and hijinks are mildly amusing at best and not that inventive compared to what we’ve seen from the likes of Rowan Atkinson. Nonetheless there’s a certain charm in the seaside resort town of Saint-Marc-sur-Mer where this was shot and this film portrays a specific style of going on holiday which now feels quaint, so it might still be worth watching for those with some affection for all things French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It’s summer and so the French head towards the beach en masse. Many go by train and then bus, to get to the H\u00f4tel de la Plage. Hulot however travels in his noisy little Samson AL car. The clumsy Hulot immediately creates chaos when he arrives. He leaves the door open as he collects his luggage and so the sea breeze upends the leisurely relaxation of the other guests. When he offers to help a young woman Martine and her aunt with their luggage, he struggles so much that he goes in the front door and out the back door. In the evening, he disturbs everyone by playing a record loudly in his room. Some of his mishaps are more serious, such as when he accidentally releases the winch of a boat that is being painted, letting it drift out to sea. He ducks responsibility by shamefacedly trying to hide. Still, he has his small victories such as when he proves absurdly good at tennis despite his eccentric movements and he has his fans. Martine appears to take a liking to him and an old British woman holidaying there cheers for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As expected, there is no plot here and the star isn’t even Hulot himself. He’s just the focal point for us to marvel at the town of Saint-Marc-sur-Mer and observe how the quintessential French summer vacation at the beach is meant to play out. We can’t help but be amused by how orderly the so-called holiday is conducted. There are set meal times and the hotel’s owner rings the bell to call in the guests from the beach. Everyone has the proper accessories and proper outfit for their planned activity, whether it be swimming, having a picnic or sitting down for dinner. Everyone exercises perfect courtesy, greeting one another and tipping their hats. It’s silly and yet quaintly idyllic. There’s nothing particularly special or spectacular about this stretch of the coastline, yet this too is part of its charm. You get a sense that Tati is gently teasing the French for their conception of what counts as fun but it comes from a place of love and so never descends into malicious mocking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hulot’s unsteady gait and general cluelessness invite hilarity and the vibes are pleasant. The issue is that Tati who plays Hulot himself doesn’t do much with his facial expressions and the little skits he plays out aren’t novel to us. A couple are so dumb I could hardly believe that we’re meant to laugh at them. In what world would a rowboat that is bent in half be mistaken for a shark? At no point could I say that I had a genuine laugh-out-loud moment and so this probably shouldn’t be considered as a good comedy by modern standards. It remains a delightful portrait of a French beach resort town. I like to think that though Tati was inspired to make this after an enjoyable holiday of his own, in making this film he may well have set the definition of what the canonical holiday experience must be. The town of Saint-Marc-sur-Mer is certainly grateful, having erected a statue of Hulot in honor of this film, and the hotel featured here exists to this day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was in this film that Jacques Tati first introduced to the world the character of Monsieur Hulot, whom we’ve seen in Playtime. This is a simpler and less ambitious film, which unfortunately also means that it’s less interesting. The gags and hijinks are mildly amusing at best and not that inventive compared to what … Continue reading Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77340"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77476,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77340\/revisions\/77476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}