Trafic (1971)

“M. Hulot” (Jacques Tati) has designed the ultimate in camper-vans and his bosses at “Altra” are keen on getting it to a motor show in Amsterdam so off he sets, with driver “Marcel” (Marcel Fraval) to take it from Paris. Somehow you just know this is not going to be a straightforward journey, though, and before long they’ve managed to run out of petrol! That is just the starting point for a series of mishaps that involve them, the traffic, their somewhat intense American marketing guru “Maria” (Maria Kimberly) and an whole host of others, including the customs guys who like nothing better than testing all it’s mod-con appliances - many of which would appear pointless even if you happened to be 007. The question is, will they and/or it ever actually make it to Amsterdam? I couldn’t help but think of “Dad’s Army” when I watched this. A series of gags that you can see from space, that make you cringe in anticipation and yet they still make you laugh when the old “if it can go wrong it will” adage kicks in. Tati has great comedy timing with an effective paucity of dialogue allowing the imagery, and some fun visual effects, to tell us a compendium of stories that entertainingly showcase life on the road as well as for this hapless, hopeless and helpless pair as everything they touch turns to mince. Whilst this is all going on, their typically impatient and arrogant colleague from across the pond gradually learns a little humility too and that’s well expressed by a Kimberly who, like everyone else, seems to be enjoying keeping this just on the right side of farce. Good fun.