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{{more citations needed|date=March 2018}}
''Jour de fete'' (]) is a largely silent ] from the ] comic ]. The thin storyline concerns a ] going about his daily routine in 1940s rural ]. It is notable for being filmed mainly in black-and-white, with occasional short bursts of colour.
{{Infobox film
| name = Jour de fête
| image = Jour de fete-poster.jpg
| director = ]
| writer = ]<br />]<br />Jacques Tati
| producer = ]<br />Fred Orain
| starring = Guy Decomble<br />Jacques Tati<br />]
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1949|05|4|France}}
| country = France
| runtime = 86 min (black-and-white version)<br />78 min (color version)
| language = French
| budget =
}}

'''''Jour de fête''''' (''The Big Day'') is a 1949 French ] starring ] in his feature film directorial debut as an inept and easily distracted mailman in a backward French village. Shot largely in and around ], where Tati had lived during the ], most of the actors were unknown and villagers served as extras.

==Plot==
On a public holiday, a young boy watches a travelling fair arrive in his village of ]. Among the locals is François, the amiable and bumbling mailman, whom everybody likes but nobody takes seriously. Marcel and Roger, the two men running the fair, make him their butt and get him drunk. In the cinema tent, people watch a spoof documentary that contrasts the unbelievable efficiency of the ] with the antiquated ]. They decide that François must get up to date and, although he only has a bicycle, must start using transatlantic dash in his delivery. In the end, exhausted by his frantic efforts, he stops to help a family pitchfork their new-mown hay into a horse-drawn cart, while the boy from the opening scene completes the deliveries on François's route.

==Cast==
*] as François
*] as Marcel
*] as Roger

==Themes==
In ''Jour de fête'', several characteristics of Tati's work appear for the first time in a full-length film. Largely a visual comedy in the silent tradition, dialogue is used at times to tell part of the story and an ancient woman with a goat appears sybil-like on occasions as a commentator. Music is mostly diegetic, coming from the carousel, the village brass band, and the pianola in the bar. Sound effects are a vital element, with imaginative use of voices and other background noises, particularly of birds, to provide both ambiance and humor.

Giving a sympathetic portrayal of what was already a vanishing way of life, where the villagers do not yet have cars or tractors and water comes from the pump, the film introduces what would be a key theme of Tati's films. Instead of rounded individuals rooted in communities, changes in Western society were turning people into operators of technology and consumers of its products. Though much of this trend originated in the US, France was catching up fast.<ref>{{citation|last = Guigueno |first = Vincent |article = L'écran de la productivité: "Jour de fête" et l'américanisation de la société française |title = Vingtième Siècle. Revue D'histoire|volume = 46 |year = 1995 |issue = 46 |pages = 117–124 |publisher = Sciences Po University Press | doi = 10.2307/3771551 |jstor = 3771551 }}</ref> Critics have noted how Tati turns the human body, with its inbuilt limitations, into a form of machine that performs tasks.<ref>{{cite magazine|first = Serge |last = Daney |title=La rampe|location = Paris |magazine=]|year = 1983 |pages = 113–1}}{{clarify|date=June 2023|reason=What range is 113–1?}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Gilles|last=Deleuze|author-link=Gilles Deleuze|title=]|location=Paris|publisher=Minuit|year=1985|page=89|isbn=9782707310477}}</ref>

A hidden factor in this and following films is that the old world of rural France is shown as one of curves, in space and in time, with people and their livestock following fluid relaxed routines, while the new world modelled on the USA operates on straight lines in rigid timeframes, symbolised by François literally cutting corners to speed up his round.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Entretiens avec Jacques Tati. Propos rompus|magazine=]|volume=303|date=September 1979|page=15}}</ref>

==Production==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{expand section|date=March 2018}}
{{no sources section|date=August 2023}}}}
The movie was originally filmed in both black-and-white and Thomsoncolor, an early and untried color film process. In using both formats, Tati feared that Thomsoncolor might not be practical, a well-founded concern when the firm proved unable to complete the processing. A colour version has subsequently been released, with a prologue detailing the failure of the original colour recording and asserting that the new version is in accordance with the director's intentions. This version is in fact the work of Sophie Tatischeff, editor and daughter of Jacques Tati, and François Ede, cinematographer, who meticulously edited and restored the film from the original camera negative which had been preserved and stored away for years. The optical system device that allowed the restitution of the colors was restored and allowed, more than forty years after the shooting, to produce the original colors of the film.

==Release==
{{expand section|date=March 2018}}

===Theatrical===
Over 7 million tickets for ''Jour de fête'' had been sold in French cinemas up to 2015, making it one of the top 40 most popular French films of all time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/top100.php?variable=France |title=TOP250 All-Time |website=www.jpbox-office.com |access-date=31 December 2017 |archive-date=11 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311104729/http://jpbox-office.com/top100.php?variable=france |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Critical reception===
{{expand section|date=March 2018}}
On ], the film holds an ] based on {{nowrap|21 reviews}}, with a ] rating of 8.3/10.<ref>{{Rotten Tomatoes|the_big_day_1952}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0040497}}
*
* an essay by ] at the ]

{{Jacques Tati}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jour de Fete}}
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Latest revision as of 20:12, 10 May 2024

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Jour de fête" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
1949 French film
Jour de fête
Directed byJacques Tati
Written byHenri Marquet
René Wheeler
Jacques Tati
Produced byAndré Paulvé
Fred Orain
StarringGuy Decomble
Jacques Tati
Paul Frankeur
Release date
  • May 4, 1949 (1949-05-04) (France)
Running time86 min (black-and-white version)
78 min (color version)
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

Jour de fête (The Big Day) is a 1949 French comedy film starring Jacques Tati in his feature film directorial debut as an inept and easily distracted mailman in a backward French village. Shot largely in and around Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre, where Tati had lived during the Occupation, most of the actors were unknown and villagers served as extras.

Plot

On a public holiday, a young boy watches a travelling fair arrive in his village of Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre. Among the locals is François, the amiable and bumbling mailman, whom everybody likes but nobody takes seriously. Marcel and Roger, the two men running the fair, make him their butt and get him drunk. In the cinema tent, people watch a spoof documentary that contrasts the unbelievable efficiency of the US post office with the antiquated French post office. They decide that François must get up to date and, although he only has a bicycle, must start using transatlantic dash in his delivery. In the end, exhausted by his frantic efforts, he stops to help a family pitchfork their new-mown hay into a horse-drawn cart, while the boy from the opening scene completes the deliveries on François's route.

Cast

Themes

In Jour de fête, several characteristics of Tati's work appear for the first time in a full-length film. Largely a visual comedy in the silent tradition, dialogue is used at times to tell part of the story and an ancient woman with a goat appears sybil-like on occasions as a commentator. Music is mostly diegetic, coming from the carousel, the village brass band, and the pianola in the bar. Sound effects are a vital element, with imaginative use of voices and other background noises, particularly of birds, to provide both ambiance and humor.

Giving a sympathetic portrayal of what was already a vanishing way of life, where the villagers do not yet have cars or tractors and water comes from the pump, the film introduces what would be a key theme of Tati's films. Instead of rounded individuals rooted in communities, changes in Western society were turning people into operators of technology and consumers of its products. Though much of this trend originated in the US, France was catching up fast. Critics have noted how Tati turns the human body, with its inbuilt limitations, into a form of machine that performs tasks.

A hidden factor in this and following films is that the old world of rural France is shown as one of curves, in space and in time, with people and their livestock following fluid relaxed routines, while the new world modelled on the USA operates on straight lines in rigid timeframes, symbolised by François literally cutting corners to speed up his round.

Production

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2018)
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)

The movie was originally filmed in both black-and-white and Thomsoncolor, an early and untried color film process. In using both formats, Tati feared that Thomsoncolor might not be practical, a well-founded concern when the firm proved unable to complete the processing. A colour version has subsequently been released, with a prologue detailing the failure of the original colour recording and asserting that the new version is in accordance with the director's intentions. This version is in fact the work of Sophie Tatischeff, editor and daughter of Jacques Tati, and François Ede, cinematographer, who meticulously edited and restored the film from the original camera negative which had been preserved and stored away for years. The optical system device that allowed the restitution of the colors was restored and allowed, more than forty years after the shooting, to produce the original colors of the film.

Release

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2018)

Theatrical

Over 7 million tickets for Jour de fête had been sold in French cinemas up to 2015, making it one of the top 40 most popular French films of all time.

Critical reception

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2018)

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 21 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 8.3/10.

References

  1. Guigueno, Vincent (1995), "L'écran de la productivité: "Jour de fête" et l'américanisation de la société française", Vingtième Siècle. Revue D'histoire, vol. 46, Sciences Po University Press, pp. 117–124, doi:10.2307/3771551, JSTOR 3771551
  2. Daney, Serge (1983). "La rampe". Cahiers du cinéma. Paris. pp. 113–1.
  3. Deleuze, Gilles (1985). Cinéma 2: L'image-temps. Paris: Minuit. p. 89. ISBN 9782707310477.
  4. "Entretiens avec Jacques Tati. Propos rompus". Cahiers du cinéma. Vol. 303. September 1979. p. 15.
  5. "TOP250 All-Time". www.jpbox-office.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  6. Jour de fête at Rotten Tomatoes

External links

Jacques Tati
Feature films directed
Short films directed
Screenplays
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