TRAFIC: THE CRITERION COLLECTION - DVD review

Monsieur Hulot is the greatest franchise character ever created exclusively for film, and one of the greatest film characters of any kind. Director/writer/star/producer Jacques Tati planted the seeds for Hulot with his depiction of the bumbling but affable postman in "Jour de fête" (1949) and brought him to the screen full-grown as a bumbling but affable traveler in the hilarious "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday." (1953)

"Holiday" was such a hit that Tati reprised the role in the superb sequel "Mon oncle" (1958), this time relocating the accident-prone Hulot from a seaside resort to the world of industry. "Mon oncle" was yet another success, and Tati had ambitious plans for his character's next and, if all went to plan, final film appearance. Tati spent nearly ten years planning his next film, constructing an entire town to serve as the set, a parallel world equivalent to Paris, but done up almost exclusively in modernist steel and glass. The construction of Tativille (as the press dubbed it) cost quite a bit of money, and Tati was forced to sink his entire fortune into the project. The result of all his labor was "Playtime" (1967), the finest film of the Hulot series and a movie that belongs on a very short list of candidates for the title of "greatest film ever made." Naturally, "Playtime" was a commercial flop: audiences were disappointed that Monsieur Hulot was no longer the centerpiece but merely one of many characters moving through the bustling world of Tativille. The box office failure all but ruined Tati's personal finances, and struck a blow to his creative ego.

Tati intended to retire Hulot with "Playtime" but had little choice except to resuscitate him one more time for "Trafic" (1971). However, the stubborn director, looking to explore new creative territory, refused to give audiences their beloved Hulot from the first two films. In "Trafic" Hulot is, of all things, a design director an auto company, which surely means human resources was asleep at the switch the day he was hired. Hulot is, of course, attired in his familiar hat and raincoat and seldom speaks intelligibly, but he is not quite the bumbler and music hall slapstick character of past days. As in "Playtime," he also shares screen-time with several other characters, most notably a hectic American public relations director named Maria (Maria Kimberley.)

Hulot, his driver, and Maria are charged with transporting their newest model car to Amsterdam for an auto show. Needless to say, they encounter numerous obstacles along the way. Both "Mon oncle" and "Playtime" addresses the inherent strangeness and wonder of modern industrialization. "Trafic" follows suit, this time with the car culture of European highways as its focus. Not a single thing goes right for Hulot and his driver. Their transport truck gets a flat almost immediately; then it breaks down. Maria, zipping alongside in her tiny convertible, speeds off to get a mechanic (cell phones would have ruined this movie) but the driver soon discovers they are merely out of gas. Hulot dashes off, canister in hand, to secure some fuel. Mishaps multiply logarithmically from here on out. Mechanics, policeman and passing motorists weave in and out of the story, sometimes to Hulot's detriment, sometimes to his benefit. Whether the car ever gets to the show or not is irrelevant. To cop a phrase, it's all about the journey, not the arrival.

This is a very different Hulot, despite the familiar costume. In the previous films, he was a holy fool, leaving mayhem in his oblivious wake but always coming out the better for it, and with collateral damage minimized. Here, he is oddly competent; perhaps steady work agrees with him. Hulot blunders into his share of contretemps but they're seldom of his own doing. Where Hulot was intimidated by the multi-purposed gewgaws of "Playtime," he now shows an easy mastery of technology as he demonstrates the endless array of features the new car has: a razor stashed in the horn, a barbecue grill and two seats retracted into the bumper, etc.

Tati seems less interested in Hulot than in sussing out the weirdness and the beauty of the highway and the culture that springs up alongside it. "Trafic" often stops simply to observe random drivers as they wait or talk or pick their noses, for no other reason than the fact that it's fun to watch people in the private/public space of the car. The film's finest set piece is an elaborately staged multi-vehicle accident which is not remotely intended to be realistic. The scene has a cartoonish quality and, as you would expect from Tati, nobody gets injured. It's all fun and games (playtime!) in the gentle and painstakingly-crafted world of Hulot.

Jacques Tati's style is so idiosyncratic that no films made before or since look like a Tati film except for the handful of homages such as the animated "Triplets of Belleville" (2003) which actually employs footage from "Jour de fête." Even more so, no other films sound like a Tati film. The characters often act like mimes, interacting with each other more by gesture than speech. They still talk, including Hulot, but their words are sometimes mumbled and their voices frequently sound strangely distant and are swallowed by the sounds of the environment. Characters sound like they are speaking from different planes within the same frame. On-screen characters sound as if they are speaking from off-screen, almost as if the actor is standing just around the corner lip-synching the lines. Likewise, the sound effects in Tati's films, meticulously created in the studio, bear only a tangential relationship to the world and must be experienced to be understood.

There is no doubt in my mind that "Trafic" is the least of the Hulot films, but that leaves it ample room to still be better than 99% of the movies you or I will ever see. The more normalized Hulot just isn't quite as funny as his previous incarnations, and the world of the highways isn't quite as compelling as the modern architecture of Tativille in "Playtime." Nonetheless, if you liked any of the previous Hulot films, you'll enjoy this. If you didn't like any of the previous Hulot films, then there's not a damn thing I can do to help you.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The colors are bright; the image quality is razor sharp. In short, it's another impeccable transfer from Criterion. For those concerned about such matters, like most Criterion full-screen transfers the image is picture-boxed which means some viewers will see thin black bars on the left and right side of the screen.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. Optional English subtitles support the French audio.

Extras

This 2-disc release from Criterion features a collection of extras recorded on each disc.

Disc One includes a 1973 episode (14 min.) from the French TV series "Morceaux be bravoure." Host André Halimi interviews Tati who, at age 64, is as spry as ever and remains the exhibitionist showman he was from his early days in music hall. The interview also features clips from some of Tati's films. The disc also offers an April 16, 1971 interview with cast of "Trafic" from the French TV show "Le journal to cinéma." In the seven minute interview, the cast speak glowingly about Tati.

Disc Two is devoted entirely to a two-piece documentary called "In the Footsteps of M. Hulot" (1983, total running time of 103 min.) Directed by Sophie Tatischeff (Jacques Tati's daughter,) the documentary spans Tati's entire career from his music hall days to his forgotten first film effort "Gai dimanche" (1935) to his final outing "Parade" (1974), a live performance shot for Swedish television. The documentary uses extended clips from all of Tati's work, not too difficult since he was only the lone director of six features as well as a few shorts, as well as some very exciting archival footage of Tati. The portrait that emerges is not too different than the one we already know: Tati as a showman, a perfectionist, and an intensely charismatic presence.

For a 2-disc release, there are surprisingly few features in the set, but the feature-length documentary on Disc 2 justifies the multi-disc treatment.

An unusually thin insert booklet features an essay by Jonathan Romney.

Film Value

When people speak of the great movie franchises, they usually talk about blockbusters like "Indiana Jones" or "Star Wars" or the Bond films. That's understandable given the American-centric, Hollywood-centric and capital-centric nature of the film press. I have no qualms about naming the Hulot films the greatest "franchise" of all-time even if the term doesn't sound quite right when applied these strange and beautiful films. "Trafic" doesn't match up to its three predecessors, but it is still a worthy final appearance by Monsieur Hulot, and another great achievement in the all-too limited output of one of the world's greatest directors, Jacques Tati.