To casual film enthusiasts, French cinema is often associated with artistic and usually dead‑serious films. Yet one of its most important and celebrated filmmakers, Jacques Tati, actually earned his reputation by making only a handful of films, all belonging to the comedy genre. The first among them was Jour de fête (also known as Holiday or Big Day in English‑speaking countries), shot in 1948. This film was important in the history of French cinema, since it happened to be the first one shot in colour. Unfortunately, due to technical and financial difficulties, the colour print was never developed and Tati had to use back‑up footage shot in black and white. In later years, Tati colourised some segments using pencils and even added new footage, but Jour de fête in its full, colourised glory was released in 1995, thirteen years after the director’s death.
Jour de fête shares the setting and protagonist with Tati’s previous film, the 1947 short L’École des facteurs. François (played by Tati) is a postman who works in the small, sleepy provincial town of Saint‑Sévère‑sur‑Indre. Once a year, on the holiday, the town is visited by a fair. Among the attractions at the fair is a cinema. François watches a short documentary that praises the modern equipment, dedication and speed of the U.S. postal service. Since all the townspeople begin to mockingly compare François’s slow ways with the efficiency of his American colleagues, he decides to change his technique. The next day he devises many ingenious ways to deliver the mail as quickly as possible, sometimes with funny results and unexpected consequences.
For some contemporary audiences, Jour de fête, at least in its opening, might seem a little dated, and some of the gags are amusing but hardly hilarious. Yet once the viewer tunes in, they begin to truly enjoy the film. In a relatively short time we meet simple, yet kindly people and we start to appreciate their idyllic way of life (the village portrayed sheltered Tati when he was hiding from the Germans during the Second World War). As the film progresses, the gags grow funnier and funnier, and the very loose plot—Tati’s favourite theme of the impact of rapidly developing modern technology on human beings—is properly established.
The film can also be viewed as an interesting comment on late‑1940s France, especially the ambivalent relationship towards Americans. On one hand, they are heralded as liberators and providers of much‑needed Marshall Plan aid; on the other hand, French national pride rebels against American cultural imperialism.
The film is spiced with a subplot dealing with the carnival worker Roger (played by Guy Decomble), who constantly flirts with the local girl Jeanette (played by Maine Vallée) despite having his wife (played by Santa Relli) by his side. Such arrogant naughtiness was unimaginable in Hollywood films of the same era.
The pleasant, but not overbearing, music by Jean Yatove also contributes greatly to the idyllic atmosphere. Despite being somewhat aged, Jour de fête after more than half a century still remains a pleasant viewing experience—a film that should be recommended to anyone tired of the darkness so omnipresent in today’s cinema.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on December 14th 1999)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/4595-jour-de-f-te Critic: AA
