L'École des Facteurs
Jacques Tati
1947 | 18 min | B/W | DCP  

L'École des Facteurs sees the birth of François the Postman, who would go on to reap fame in the feature film Jour de Fête!  

Jour de Fête
Jacques Tati
1949 | 76 min | B/W | DCP  

Jacques Tati's award-winning feature debut – a dazzling blend of satire and slapstick – was early evidence of his unique talent. Acclaimed by international critics as an innovative comic masterpiece, Jour de Fête is a hilarious expos of the modern obsession with speed and efficiency, set amidst the rural surroundings of a tiny French village. Tati plays an appealingly self-deluded buffoon, François – a postman who, impressed by the bristling efficiency of the U.S. postal system, makes a wholly misguided attempt to introduce modern methods in the depths of rural France. Tati's antics on his wayward bike are endlessly inventive and the film also serves as an affectionate, gently mocking tribute to a vanishing way of life. François' brief infatuation with "American" methods of speed and efficiency prefigures the satire on modernity that Tati would go on develop in Mon Oncle and Playtime.  

Part of our Jacques Tati retrospective