Mon Oncle (1958)

Back in the day when it was very de rigueur to live in an home with all the mod cons we meet la famille “Arpel”. Monsieur (Jean-Pierre Zola) has a managerial job at a plastics factory and that’s keeping his slightly snobbish wife (Adrienne Servantie) in the style to which she has already become accustomed. In the nearby city lives her brother “Hulot” (Jacques Tati) whose home barely has plumbing and who is concerned that his young nephew “Gérard” (Alain Bécourt) isn’t living life to the full in his gilded cage of an home. Not unreasonably, his parents conclude that uncle might be a bit of a bad influence on their youngster so devise a cunning plan to put him to work at the factory. A risky strategy, methinks - especially as “Hulot” is very much an independent thinker who could end up wrecking the whole place! Their attack on this affable man’s personality is two pronged. They also assemble a collection of individuals for a party in their perfectly cultivated garden so that perhaps they can set him up with a suitable lady friend. Well, as you can probably imagine, “Hulot” is a fish out of water and though not deliberately rude or unpleasant, well you get the drift… With their conformity magnets definitely working against each other, will it be possible for this family to learn to live and let live? There’s a gentle comedy to this whole film but there is also an only thinly veiled critique offered on the sterilisation of society and community endangered by automated industrialisation. The impact on jobs, careers and the social structure of their town is all at risk as interpersonal skills are sacrificed at the altar of increased productivity, lower costs and a continuing supply that doesn’t stop when the whistle blows at 5pm. The humour comes from an on form Tati’s avuncular persona, but also from the really quite amiable efforts of both Servantie and Zola, with the former of the pairing determined, at all costs, to ensure her lad is way ahead of the Joneses never mind kept up with them. What is also here is just an hint of jeopardy. We really don’t know how it might end, or who might prevail, until the very last gadget in her state of the art kitchen has shown us it’s (largely entirely unnecessary) function. It’s a film that bears watching a few times as each subsequent watch reveals more worth a gander, it’s good fun and I’d like to have seen Charles Laughton have a go at the role!