The comedies of Jacques Tati combine an ingenious sense of observation, singling out the comic in middle class modernity, with a wittily select soundtrack blending natural sounds and music with a minimum of dialogue. Though the object of Tati's imagic wit - somehow biting and gentle at the same time - is the “average Frenchman,” his hero, Mr. Hulot (played by Tati himself) is not average in the least.
“He doesn't try to win anything, get anything, or stop anything. He simply exists as a sounding board for the rest of the activities in the film. Everything bounces off Hulot, but he doesn't bounce back or react in any way. The only bouncing he does is in his springy walk; he is seemingly not properly anchored to the earth. His pipe sticks from his mouth at an oblique angle, his raincoat is too short, his umbrella dangles limply at his side. He is too tall and gawky. He is somehow ‘off' without knowing it.” --Gerald Mast, “The...
