The second appearance of Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot character, and the film in which the character finds his niche – a good natured, perhaps naïve, everyman, overwhelmed by a world progressing ahead of him.
Following his first appearance during his Holiday, Monsieur Hulot returns, called away from his aging yet vibrant Parisian apartment by his sister (Adrienne Servantie,) who hopes that the influence of she and her husband (Jean-Pierre Zola) will help inspire career aspirations in Hulot. Instead, Hulot finds himself escorting his young nephew (Alain Bécourt,) as he escapes the autonomous yet impractical home into the comfortable chaos of the city’s outskirts.
The central setting, the home of Hulot’s sister and brother-in-law, a commentary on the folly of the push towards modernity, has ironically become an icon of architecture and design. As a bonus, the film features some of cinema’s finest canine acting.
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