Jour de fête

(Holiday), (The Big Day)

Original B&W Version

featuring

Jacques Tati, Guy Decomble, Paul Frankeur, Santa Relli,

This loose series of village vignettes follows the misadventures of a postman (Tati) who, inspired by a hyperbolic newsreel at a traveling fair, attempts to emulate the spectacular speed and efficiency of the American postal service—on his bicycle. The fair’s boisterous energy, in contrast to the lull of village routine, is brilliantly evoked by the controlled cacophony of the soundtrack. The film was shot with two cameras, one loaded with black-and-white film and the other using a stock called Thomsoncolor, a technology so experimental that printing proved impractical; we present the black-and-white release version.

Juliet Clark
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Jacques Tati
  • Henri Marquet
Cinematographer
  • Jacques Sauvageot
  • Jacques Mercanton
Language
  • French
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • DCP
  • 87 mins
Source
  • Janus Films
CINEFILES

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View Jour de fête documents  

Jacques Tati (program note), Institut Valencià de l'Audiovisual i de Cinematografia Ricardo Muñoz Suay, Román Gubern, 2009

The color of paradise (review), Reader (Chicago, Ill.), Jonathan Rosenbaum, 1998

On the road again (review), Village Voice, Michael Atkinson, 1997

Jour de fête (program note), San Francisco International Film Festival, Lisa Nesselson, 1997

Jour de fete (review), Variety, Lisa Nesselson, 1994

A Jacques Tati program (program note), New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y.), William K. Everson, 1979

Jour de fete (program note), Los Angeles International Film Exposition, 1972

Jour de fete (program note), Cine Club Scrapbook, H.E.W., 1953

The big day (exhibitor manual), Arthur Mayer-Edward Kingsley Inc., 1952

Jacques Tati (distributor materials), Films Distribution

Displaying 10 of 14 publicly available documents.


View all Jour de fête documentation on CineFiles.