Jour de fête instance of film
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.Cast
Jacques Tati as François
Paul Frankeur as Marcel
Guy Decomble as RogerThemes
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.
type of example of manifestation of representation of