Jacques Tati, byname of Jacques Tatischeff died November 5, 1982. French filmmaker and actor who gained renown for his comic films that portrayed people in conflict with the mechanized modern world.
He wrote and starred in all six of the feature films that he directed; in four of them he played the role of Monsieur Hulot, a lanky pipe-smoking fellow with a quizzical innocent nature. He was regarded as among the most innovative and influential comic filmmakers of the 20th century.
What is Tati famous for?
After a stint as a semi-professional rugby player, Tati began a career as a music-hall entertainer in the 1930s, doing pantomimes of athletes and occasionally performing in movies.
During World War II he served with the French army. Tati’s films forsake traditional narrative in favour of vignettes that use sight gags, timing, mannerisms, and physical action to reveal the humour and texture of modern living.
He typically set the camera at a distance from the action and used numerous long shots to show Monsieur Hulot moving through the larger society and, at the same time, to invite the viewer to explore the frame of the film for the visual and aural variety within.
