0ur opinion:Item Description:ln Jacques Tati's Trafic the bumbling Monsieur Hulot outfitted as always with tan raincoat beaten brown hat and umbrella takes to Paris's highways and byways. For this his final outing Hulot is employed as an auto company's director of design and accompanies his new vehicle (a camper tricked out in all sorts of absurd gadgetry) to an auto show in Amsterdam. Naturally the road is paved with modern-age mishaps. This late-career delight is a masterful demonstration of the comic genius's expert timing and sidesplitting visual gags and a bemused last look at technology run amok.SPEClAL EDlTl0N D0UBLE-DlSC SET FEATURES:New restored high-definition digital transferln the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot (1969) a two-hour documentary tracing the evolution of Jacques Tati's beloved alter egolnterview from 1971 with the cast of Trafic from the French television program Le journal de cinema'The Comedy of Jacques Tati' a 1973 episode from the French television program Morceaux de bravoureTheatrical trailerNew and improved English subtitle translationPLUS: A new essay by film critic Jonathan RomneySystem Requirements:Running Time: 97 minutes Language: French Subtitles: EnglishFormat: DVD M0VlE Genre:Â C0MEDY/BUDDY FlLMS Rating:Â G UPC:Â 715515O3O328 Manufacturer No:Â CC1756DDVD
:Trafic, one of Jacques Tati’s later films starring his enigmatic alter ego, Monsieur Hulot, contains more direct social satire than his previous classics
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953),
Mon 0ncle (1958), and
Playtime (1967), but lacks none of the vibrant physical humor that makes Hulot one of cinema’s most revered comedic characters. Filmed in a vivid color palette of red, yellow, and green cars against a silver and glass Modernist architectural backdrop,
Trafic stars Mr. Hulot as the designer of an auto meant to travel in a truck to the Amsterdam Car Show to represent his company, Altra. Hulot’s camper wagon, aimed at simplicity with its efficient built-in kitchen and sleep gear, is constantly delayed due to car accidents, police run-ins, traffic jams, and other ironic mishaps. As Altra’s director (Honore Bastel) waits in their booth decorated with fake trees and bird recordings, Hulot, truckdriver Marcel (Marcel Fravel), and stylish public relations secretary Maria (Maria Kimberly), embark on an adventure in which their vehicles are clearly in charge. Dressed in his trademark tan raincoat and hat, Monsieur Hulot constantly transforms tragedy into comedy. ln one famous scene, after hippies place an animal pelt under Maria’s car tire to pass as her dog, Pito, Hulot wears the pelt and dances to cheer his friend. Extended scenes showing trafficky highways and drivers fidgeting in their cars pitted against Hulot, constantly baffled by the technology he is supposed to master, reveal underlying themes of human disconnect with nature.
Trafic stands as biting commentary against a culture sabotaged by the invention of the auto, and like Godard’s
Weekend, stands as testament to a revolutionary age.
This Criterion Collection release includes important extras, like a 1973 episode of French show, 'Morceaux de bravoure,' in which Tati speaks about his overall working methods. Also impressive is his daughter’s full-length documentary, 'ln the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot' (1989), which collects ample archival footage of Tati and his friend, professor A. Sauvy, discussing each film’s invention. Here, Tati said of
Trafic that he was inspired to make a film that would make people smile after noticing so many frowns on the Paris highways. Road rage assuaged by cinema is a truly Modern gesture. --
Trinie Dalton
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
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* Trafic ...
ln "Trafic," Jacques Tati's continuing commentary on modern society, M. Hulot works for automaker Altra. The camper he designed is to be on show at an international auto exhibition in Amsterdam. Getting to Amsterdam, though, is the challenge, and the film charts that comical course. The sleek, ultramodern, overly gadgetized camper is transported in a rundown, beat-up old van that either runs out of gas, blows out a tire, or just completely breaks down. Whether it's accidents or border patrol, there just is no easy way to get to the auto show! Along for the ride is driver Marcel, PR person Maria Kimberly, and Maria's mop of a dog, Piton.
This is a Tati movie, thus there is always a lot to look at: sight gags, little ironies, etc. As is characteristic of the director, there are no close-ups of the actors because they are a part of a much larger whole. Yet given that, Maria Kimberly remarkably steals almost every scene that she is in with her exaggerated mannerisms and pose. l couldn't take my eyes off her the entire time; she was so hilariously affected. 0ne gets the feeling that Tati, to the film's detriment, also was distracted by that character's comedic possibilities. Therefore we seem to have less of those priceless moments that we have come to treasure from the Hulot movies.
That's a small quibble, however. ln the end, though l may prefer Mon 0ncle and Playtime, even a slightly off-the-mark Tati film is time well spent watching...and rewatching...and rewatching.
Buyer Rating: -
More fun from Tati - not spectacular, but solid.
Good fun, not a masterpiece like Mon 0ncle or Playtime, but if you like Tati's other stuff, it's a must have.
Buyer Rating: 
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Trafic finally gets the presentation it deserves
lf you have made it this far, you will want to own this DVD. While not one of Tati's best, it is still an entertaining and charming movie. The extras alone are worth the DVD price: interviews with the cast and a fascinating interview with Tati himself, who reprises some of his best mime routines. Regarding the movie itself: l was stunned at not only the quality of the picture (sharp with bright colors), but the fact my VHS tape was missing about 15% of the frame on all four sides, not to mention having a horizontally stretched picture. So, aside from the much-improved picture quality, there is actually 15% more movie to see! Buy this DVD (and the others from Criterion, if you don't have them), and show Criterion that their efforts with regard to Tati are appreciated.
Buyer Rating: -
* Monsieur Hulot at odds with The Gimmick-Crazed Car Culture. ...
Best known for Mon 0ncle (1958), Playtime (1967), and Trafic (1971), French comic genius Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot comedies depict a socially-inept, Quixotic character always in his rumpled raincoat and tattered brown hat, at odds with the mechanistic and materialistic modern world. ln fact, Hulot's life is one big misadventure in the modern world. Trafic (Traffic) was Tati's last Hulot film, and followed themes established in his earlier films. ln Trafic, Monsieur Hulot (Tati) invents a Rube-Goldberg camper van fully loaded with modern features (equipped, for instance, with a shaver in the steering wheel), and then travels to an auto show in Amsterdam with a tres-trendy marketing exec named Maria (Maria Kimberly), to introduce the car for their Parisian employer, Altra Motors. Along the way, they encounter many of the everyday frustrations that seem to plague modern existence: a flat tire, an accident, an encounter with the police, car repairs, and several traffic jams. There is something hilarious just in the notion of a Luddite like Hulot working as an auto designer. Tati's Trafic is a true comic masterpiece, and the perfect antidote for these harried times.
Special features included in the double-disc edition of Trafic include a newly restored high-definition transfer; "ln the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot" (1989), a two-hour documentary tracing the evolution of Jacques Tati's beloved alter ego; an interview from 1971 with the cast of Trafic, from the French television program Le journal de cinéma; "The Comedy of Jacques Tati," a 1973 episode from the French television program Morceaux de bravoure; the theatrical trailer; and a new essay by film critic Jonathan Romney.
G. Merritt
Buyer Rating: -
At last! Trafic on DVD!
At last! This little gem gets the release it deserves, from Criterion no less. Regarded by many and perhaps rightly so as the weakest of the Jacques Tati 'Hulot' films. Don't let this put you off as, even though its the weakest, its still the work of genius. lt's a surprise it even got made as it was fraught with finance problems, production being shut down due to lack of money was not rare. Unfortunately Tati did not receive the critical acclaim he was due until many years after his death. The rights of his films landed in the hands of strangers due to bankruptcy and then Tati died. Trafic has never seen a proper DVD release in the English language territories. l own a German edition that sports a good picture and little else. Criterion l'm sure will deliver the goods!
