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I first saw Jacques Tati's Playtime about a month back, I really appreciated the concept but often I would doze off or get frustrated looking for / understanding the jokes throughout (which it's supposedly overloaded with). It feels like the movie taunts and challenges the viewer to discover all of it's secrets. I've tried looking all over for a comprehensive breakdown of all of the gags, but it seems as nobody has attempted one yet. So my goal for this thread is for fans of the film to come together find every single joke and peculiar detail hidden or blatant throughout Playtime.
I'll organize all of the findings in chronological order here in this post, so if you submit one not listed yet just put the number ahead of it where it can be found. (i'll try to illustrate this more clearly).
The Big List of Gags
#1 One of the introductory shots shows two nuns walking, their hats flapping like birds (also producing a cartoony flapping sound).
#2 The Janitor (dressed in blue) enters the shot and starts scanning the interior for something to clean but everything is spotless and perfect.
#3 The shot turns to a reverse angle and it's revealed one of the little cubicles appears to be a very poorly placed bathroom
#4 "Hulot" enters the shot, walking very loudly with his trademark umbrella
#5 There's a lady sitting on a stool (left side) who notices "Hulot" and tries to get his attention, but instead draws the attention of everyone except "Hulot" as he then changes direction and goes the complete opposite way
#6 The old man being hounded by the journalists has a little tag attached to his case that is going berserk
#7 "Hulot" appears again behind the group of tourists and drops his umbrella, then he walks out of the shot
#8 There is an old woman tapping and petting her red baggage, then it starts making dog whining noises
#9 One of the airport employees tells the tour guide that the front half of the (american) group is going to the Royal Hotel and the back half is going to The Modern. The tour guide than says in french "Royal Hotel follow me" and the entire group follows.
#10 The lady from the stool catches up to "Hulot" outside taps him on the shoulder and he's actually some english guy who exclaims "I'm not Hulot You've made a mistake."
#11 The imposter Hulot attempts to get off his bus, bumps umbrellas with the real Hulot, and hops back on the bus
Now if you found something between these two, you would post like this.
#2 A dog does a backflip behind the nuns
(which doesn't happen at all, instead a man pushes a cart of towels from one cubicle to the next, but I don't see any reason to point this out, if you do please enlighten me)
I'll really start working on this tomorrow, but I hope we can make a really great list togoether.
I'll organize all of the findings in chronological order here in this post, so if you submit one not listed yet just put the number ahead of it where it can be found. (i'll try to illustrate this more clearly).
The Big List of Gags
#1 One of the introductory shots shows two nuns walking, their hats flapping like birds (also producing a cartoony flapping sound).
#2 The Janitor (dressed in blue) enters the shot and starts scanning the interior for something to clean but everything is spotless and perfect.
#3 The shot turns to a reverse angle and it's revealed one of the little cubicles appears to be a very poorly placed bathroom
#4 "Hulot" enters the shot, walking very loudly with his trademark umbrella
#5 There's a lady sitting on a stool (left side) who notices "Hulot" and tries to get his attention, but instead draws the attention of everyone except "Hulot" as he then changes direction and goes the complete opposite way
#6 The old man being hounded by the journalists has a little tag attached to his case that is going berserk
#7 "Hulot" appears again behind the group of tourists and drops his umbrella, then he walks out of the shot
#8 There is an old woman tapping and petting her red baggage, then it starts making dog whining noises
#9 One of the airport employees tells the tour guide that the front half of the (american) group is going to the Royal Hotel and the back half is going to The Modern. The tour guide than says in french "Royal Hotel follow me" and the entire group follows.
#10 The lady from the stool catches up to "Hulot" outside taps him on the shoulder and he's actually some english guy who exclaims "I'm not Hulot You've made a mistake."
#11 The imposter Hulot attempts to get off his bus, bumps umbrellas with the real Hulot, and hops back on the bus
Now if you found something between these two, you would post like this.
#2 A dog does a backflip behind the nuns
(which doesn't happen at all, instead a man pushes a cart of towels from one cubicle to the next, but I don't see any reason to point this out, if you do please enlighten me)
I'll really start working on this tomorrow, but I hope we can make a really great list togoether.
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Last edited by meatwadsprite; 04-30-15 at 12:41 AM.
