Jacques Taeti Use Of Sound In Mr. Hulot's Holiday

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At first listen, Jacques Tati's use of sound in his comedy Mr. Hulot's Holiday can be very annoying. 25 years after the silent movie genre was defunct Tati created a film with no clear dialogue. Sound was the most important film element to Tati in this series of films. We know this because he spent more time editing the sound than shooting the film. By using the elements of sound and music he kept the movie from being a silent film and allowed the audience to focus on the actors and the comedy. Jacques Tati was a great French director, actor and sound magician in relation to his films. First, 25 years after the silent movie genre was defunct Tati created a film with no clear dialogue. However, the film is by no means a 'silent' comedy, …show more content…

Tati used diegetic sounds such as the loud car at the beginning of the movie, the children laughing during the beach scenes and the jaunty tune Hulot plays at the hotel and the couple plays on the beach. The same tune plays during the opening credits as nondiegetic sound. The main point of the movie was to observe peculiar human nature and find amusement in it. It was not meant to be a laugh out loud comedy as we think of today. According to film critic Roger Ebert, “Tati was a silent clown; he worked as a mime as a young man, and his Hulot seems to lack the knack of getting into a conversation.” Thus sound effects and music add to foolishness of Tati’s Hulot character. An example would be sounds come and go as they please inTati's wacky comedic world. In the scene with the swinging door in the hotel dining room Tati creates a plonking noise every time it swings. Does it annoy the main character, who has been placed alone next to it? It certainly did me but that type of door was made to plonk, and we are made to think that it has plonked for a many years, and will plonk for many more until the day, the dainty hotel by the sea succumbs to its

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