After the commercial failure (but the artistic success) of "Playtime" (1967), Jacques Tati urgently needed a commercial success. He got it with "Trafic" (1971). The film was a success at the box office, but is artisticly probably the weakest Tati film (that is to say, still rather good).
"Trafic" was originally planned as a Jacques Tati and Bert Haanstra co-production. Allthough Bert Haanstra ("Everyone", 1963) eventually withdrew, his influence is still noticeable in the final film.
"Trafic" has a more documentary character than for example "Playtime". The plot is minimal (Hulot and his team do not succeed in getting a revolutionary camper from Paris to a car exhibition in Amsterdam in time) and the visual gags seem more observend than thought out. There are for example sequences with drivers yawning or nose picking in their cars. This sequences can be seen as a sort of "Everyone in their cars" and the influence of Haanstra is tangible.
Of course there are also sequences and themes that are definitely thought out and that are without any doubt attributable to Tati. After all it was not without reason that it took 4 years to make "Trafic". I would like to call attentiont to the following scenes and themes.
The scene in which a pile-up is transformed into a real choreography for cars. This choreography is extended to a choreography for humans when the drivers get out and start doing stretches.
During the film the team of Mr Hulot regularly visit garages where one is watching the landing on the moon (Apollo 11, 1969). The message is clear. We can bring a man to the moon but we cannot bring a car from Paris to Amsterdam.
The same garages often also have a junkyard. Again the message is clear. Mr Hulot is on his way to an exhibition for fancy new cars but eventually they all end up as carbage of the consumption society.
It is worthwhile to think about the role Tati's alterego of Mr Hulot plays in the different Tati films. In "Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (1953), Hulot himself causes the chaos. In "Playtime" (1967), Hulot observes tha chaos caused by modernity. "Mon oncle" (1958) is somewhere in between. In "Trafic" (1971) Hulot has become part of modernity himself. After all he is the designer of the camper to be shown at the exibition.
That Hulot in "Trafic" has joined modernity does not mean that he is once again the main source of chaos. In "Trafic" that role is fulfilled by the PR officer Maria (Maria Kimberly) who, by doing everything very resolutely, is not enhancing efficieny. On the contrary. During the movie she thawed and becomes more and more relaxed.
"Trafic" was originally planned as a Jacques Tati and Bert Haanstra co-production. Allthough Bert Haanstra ("Everyone", 1963) eventually withdrew, his influence is still noticeable in the final film.
"Trafic" has a more documentary character than for example "Playtime". The plot is minimal (Hulot and his team do not succeed in getting a revolutionary camper from Paris to a car exhibition in Amsterdam in time) and the visual gags seem more observend than thought out. There are for example sequences with drivers yawning or nose picking in their cars. This sequences can be seen as a sort of "Everyone in their cars" and the influence of Haanstra is tangible.
Of course there are also sequences and themes that are definitely thought out and that are without any doubt attributable to Tati. After all it was not without reason that it took 4 years to make "Trafic". I would like to call attentiont to the following scenes and themes.
The scene in which a pile-up is transformed into a real choreography for cars. This choreography is extended to a choreography for humans when the drivers get out and start doing stretches.
During the film the team of Mr Hulot regularly visit garages where one is watching the landing on the moon (Apollo 11, 1969). The message is clear. We can bring a man to the moon but we cannot bring a car from Paris to Amsterdam.
The same garages often also have a junkyard. Again the message is clear. Mr Hulot is on his way to an exhibition for fancy new cars but eventually they all end up as carbage of the consumption society.
It is worthwhile to think about the role Tati's alterego of Mr Hulot plays in the different Tati films. In "Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (1953), Hulot himself causes the chaos. In "Playtime" (1967), Hulot observes tha chaos caused by modernity. "Mon oncle" (1958) is somewhere in between. In "Trafic" (1971) Hulot has become part of modernity himself. After all he is the designer of the camper to be shown at the exibition.
That Hulot in "Trafic" has joined modernity does not mean that he is once again the main source of chaos. In "Trafic" that role is fulfilled by the PR officer Maria (Maria Kimberly) who, by doing everything very resolutely, is not enhancing efficieny. On the contrary. During the movie she thawed and becomes more and more relaxed.