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Though famous for the courteous but accident-prone character of M. Hulot introduced in Les Vacances... Tati wished for the character to slip into the background of his films, removing his status as a star performer while emphasising the comic possibilities of an overall scene. The phrase 'democratic comedy' has been applied to this tendency in which a character such as ... [+]

Though famous for the courteous but accident-prone character of M. Hulot introduced in Les Vacances... Tati wished for the character to slip into the background of his films, removing his status as a star performer while emphasising the comic possibilities of an overall scene. The phrase 'democratic comedy' has been applied to this tendency in which a character such as Hulot has the same comic weight as anyone or anything else has the capacity to be. As Hulot disappears, the whole world becomes a Tati-esque commingling of graceful accidents and magical transformations. Essentially, Tati’s enterprise was to persuade us of the comedy all around us all the time, if only we would care to look and appreciate it.

There is an elegance to all of Tati’s work and there are scenes in his films that are closer to dance than anything else. His films are celebrations - of holidays, fairs and play, but more than anything of the sheer unwitting comic possibilities of being human. To think of the films wholly as comedy however may be to view them with misleading expectations. To watch them as impeccably-composed and choreographed masterpieces of mime and observation that provide in the viewer a glow of admiration, an almost constant quiet smile, numerous chuckles and the occasional belly-laugh, is to watch them as unsurpassed works of art. [-]