Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot, 1953) is Jacques Tati's beloved comedy, free to watch online on iFILM. The gangly, pipe-smoking Monsieur Hulot arrives at a sleepy seaside resort and quietly turns everyone's vacation upside down.

There's barely a plot in the usual sense. Instead there's a beachfront inn, a squeaky dining-room door, a tennis court, and Hulot puttering about in his rattling old jalopy. Every move he makes sets off a small disaster: a kayak folds shut around him, fireworks erupt in the dead of night, a stubborn dog blocks the path. Tati works almost without dialogue, building the laughs out of sound effects, timing, and meticulously staged sight gags.

This was the first Hulot film and the one that made Tati an international name; it earned an Oscar nomination for its original screenplay. Gentle and sunlit, it rewards viewers who enjoy humor with no cruelty in it and don't mind a rhythm far slower than modern comedy. Stream Monsieur Hulot's Holiday online on iFILM.