Playtime

Playtime
Directed by	Jacques Tati
Written by	Jacques Tati Jacques Lagrange[a] Art Buchwald[b]
Produced by	Bernard Maurice
Starring	Jacques Tati
Cinematography	Jean Badal Andréas Winding
Edited by	Gérard Pollicand
Music by	Francis Lemarque
Production companies	Specta Films Jolly Film
Distributed by	SN Prodis (France)[1] Unidis (Italy)[2]
Release dates	16 December 1967 (1967-12-16) (France) 29 March 1968 (1968-03-29) (Italy)
Running time	124 minutes
Countries	France Italy
Languages	French English German

Playtime (stylized as PlayTime and also written as Play Time) is a 1967 comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. In the film, Tati again plays Monsieur Hulot, the popular character who had central roles in his earlier films Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) and Mon Oncle (1958). However, Tati grew ambivalent towards playing Hulot as a recurring central role during production; he appears intermittently in Playtime, alternating between central and supporting roles.

Shot on 70 mm, the work is notable for its enormous set, which Tati had built specially for the film, as well as Tati's trademark use of subtle yet complex visual comedy supported by creative sound effects; dialogue is frequently reduced to the level of background noise.

Playtime is considered Tati's masterpiece and his most daring work. In 2022, Playtime was 23rd on the British Film Institute's critics' list and 41st in their directors' list of "Top 100 Greatest Films of All Time". The film was a financial failure upon release but is now widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.^[3]

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