Jacques Tati

In Trafic Mr. Hulot (Jacques Tati) is the designer for Altra, a Paris car company that has one new model van for camping. The annual auto show is being held and the company is desperately trying to finish the van and all the display items to pack up and take to the auto show in Amsterdam but the entire work force is a collection of haphazard workers doing their jobs without any real sense of expertise. The van has been completed but doesnt actually run yet so Hulot and his Mechanic (Tony Knepper) have to push the van up a ramp into a truck to transport it to Amsterdam. The Public Relations Representative (Maria Kimberly) tries to navigate the entire process consistently attempting to motivate everyone with her American spirit. Along the way from Paris through Belgium to Amsterdam they break down, run out of gas, get arrested by the Police, and cause a multi-car auto accident, but manage to get to the auto show. Hulot meanders through it all with his usual pluck just beyond the reach of the fickle finger of fate.

Monsieur Hulot curiously wanders around a high-tech Paris, paralleling a trip with a group of American tourists. Meanwhile, a nightclub/restaurant prepares its opening night, but it's still under construction. Monsieur Hulot has to contact an American official in Paris, but he gets lost in the maze of modern architecture which is filled with the latest technical gadgets. Caught in the tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing chaos in his usual manner. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> In yet another outing by the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, we find him lost in an ultra-modern Paris as he tries to locate someone. As always seems to be the case, chaos erupts wherever Hulot is to be found. Meanwhile, a group of American tourists frequently crosses his path and staff struggle to have a new restaurant ready for its opening night. Sight gags galore. —garykmcd In ultra-modern Paris, a group of American female tourists have just arrived and are visiting the sites, with one of them, Barbara, longing to see things that evoke her image of old-fashioned Paris. Also in town is slightly bumbling M. Hulot, who despite knowing the city, is constantly getting lost while people who have been looking for him seem to run into him by chance. The women and Hulot's movements, which largely parallel each other, at the airport, at an office complex, at a new products exposition, at an apartment building, at a new nightclub/restaurant, and in city traffic, are often setups for visual tableaux. —Huggo

Monsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings. Monsieur Hulot's brother-in-law is the manager of a factory where plastics are manufactured. His nephew grows up in a house where everything is fully automated and the boy is raised in a similar fashion. To take away the influence of the uncle on his son, his brother-in-law gets Hulot a job in his factory. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> The hopeless Monsieur Hulot once again finds himself affecting people's lives without realizing what he has done. Hulot has taken his young nephew under his wing allowing him to play with other children. The boy's parents live in a ultra-modern house where the boy's overly pretentious mother will barely let him breathe. Concerned that he may be a bad influence on the boy, Hulot's sister and brother-in-law devise a plan to keep him occupied. Their attempt to introduce him to other people at their garden party doesn't work out as planned - with hilarious results for everyone concerned. —garykmcd Set loose in a society of gaudy materialism, the amiably oblivious Monsieur Hulot finds himself hilariously out of sorts when visiting his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew at their bourgeois house--the geometric Villa Arpel, filled with oppressively bewildering and ultramodern "conveniences." —yusufpiskin Genial, bumbling Monsieur Hulot loves his top-floor apartment in a grimy corner of the city, and cannot fathom why his sister's family has moved to the suburbs. Their house is an ultra-modern nightmare, which Hulot only visits for the sake of stealing away his rambunctious young nephew. Hulot's sister, however, wants to win him over to her new way of life, and conspires to set him up with a wife and job. —yusufpiskin

Mr. Hulot (Jacques Tati) takes his summer vacation at a seaside resort along with a gaggle of tourists and their children. When Hulot arrives at the resort he goes about his holiday by relaxing, and attempting to make friends with the stuffy regular tourists who take their summer holiday there. What ensues is an episodic view of the way a sense of social class obstructs the free exchange of new ideas and people. Hulot meets the young blonde Martine (Nathalie Pascaud) and successfully interacts with her socially but because of her class ties, she is barred from any real future. Hulot himself is classless and seems to only be able to find companionship at a funeral, but he maintains his positive view of life in spite of being relegated to sitting with the children on the beach.