Retro Film Review: Jour de fête (Holiday, 1949)

in #film4 years ago

(source: tmdb.org)

In the eyes of casual filmophiles, French cinema is associated with artistic and usually dead serious films. But one of their most important and celebrated filmmakers, Jacques Tati, actually earned his reputation by making only few films, all belonging to the genre of comedy. The first among them was Jour de fête (also known as Holiday or Big Day in English-speaking countries), shot in 1948. This film was important in the history of French cinema, since it happened to be the first one shot in colour. Unfortunately, due to some technical and financial difficulties, the colour print was never developed and Tati had to use back-up footage, shot in black and white. In later years, Tati colourised some segments using pencils and even added some new footage, but Jour de fête in its full, colourised glory was released in 1995, thirteen years after director's death.

Jour de fête shares the setting and protagonist with Tati's previous film, 1947 short L’École des facteurs. François (played by Tati) is a postman who works in small, sleepy provincial town of Saint-Severe-sur-Indre. Once a year, on holiday, the town is visited by fair. Among the things featured on the fair is a cinema. François watches a short documentary that praises the modern equipment, dedication and speed of U.S. postal service. Since all townspeople begin to mockingly compare François’ slow ways with the efficiency of his American colleagues, he decides to change his technique. Next day he devises many ingenious ways to deliver mail as quickly as possible, sometimes with funny results and unexpected consequences.

For some of the contemporary audiences, Jour de fête, at least in its beginning, might seem a little bit dated and some of the gags are funny, but hardly hilarious. But once the viewer gets tuned in he begins to truly enjoy this film. In a relatively short time we meet simple, yet nice people and we begin to truly appreciate their idyllic way (the village portrayed sheltered Tati when he was hiding from Germans during WW2). With time, the gags are getting funnier and funnier, and the very loose plot, Tati's favourite theme - impact on rapidly developed modern technology on human beings - is properly established. The film also could be viewed as an interesting comment on late 1940s France, especially the ambivalent relationship towards Americans. On one hand, they are heralded as liberators and providers of much needed Marshall Plan aid; on the other hand, French national pride rebels against American cultural imperialism. The film is also spiced with subplot dealing with carnival worker Roger (played by Guy Decomble) who constantly flirts with local girl Jeanette (played by Maine Vallée), despite having his wife (played by Santa Relli) by his side. Such arrogant naughtiness was unimaginable in Hollywood films of the same era. The pleasant, but not overbearing music by Jean Yatove also contributes a lot to the idyllic atmosphere.

Despite being somewhat aged, Jour de fête after more than half a century still remains a pleasant viewing experience, a film that should be recommended to anyone tired of darkness so omnipresent in the cinemas of today.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on December 14th 1999)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/4595-jour-de-f-te
Critic: AA

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