My Uncle

New 35mm Print! Rare, Restored English-language version! ► A marvellous satire in the spirit of Chaplin’s Modern Times, Jacques Tati’s classic avuncular comedy was originally shot in both French and English versions, each edited in slightly different ways. Mon Oncle, winner of the Jury Special Prize at Cannes and the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film, is the version most know. My Uncle, screening here, is nine minutes shorter, and was mostly forgotten until it was rediscovered in Tati’s archives in 2004 and restored. There’s actually little spoken dialogue in either version of this ingenious, visually inventive work. Made with the painstaking perfectionism for which the director is legendary, My Uncle has Tati’s accident-prone M. Hulot tangling with soulless suburbia and mechanistic modern life while visiting the minimalist, modernist home of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. The family’s sterile white abode is filled with hilarious labouring-saving gizmos and gadgets, allowing Tati some of his best gags. The art direction and elaborate sets are astonishing, the visual and aural design impeccable, the pacing amiable and leisurely. “Extraordinary . . . While some episodes are protracted, many are unforgettably funny, wonderfully observed, and always technically brilliant. Insane gadgets slam and roar, high heels click like metronomes, and even a depressed dachshund in a tartan overcoat obligingly submits to Tati's meticulous direction” (Time Out). “Slapstick heaven” (Anthony Lane, The New Yorker). Colour, 35mm, in English. 110 mins.