DVDs

M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY

Criterion, $29.95

Jacques Tati's signature film captures the essence of summer – precariously perched scoops of ice cream, kids with permanent wedgies, and the whimsical chaos of travel – in 87 seaside minutes photographed so gorgeously they could only end with a postmark in the upper-right-hand corner. The Criterion version, re-released last year after a stint out of print, does not disappoint. In introducing the film, Terry Jones heralds Hulot as "the moment when I realized comedy could be both funny and beautiful," and indeed, it holds up marvelously. Tati's Hulot is the same gentle, gangly fellow with a ridiculous bouncing gait who delighted French audiences with his unintentional misadventures in 1953; watching this mild and evenly paced farce – it's physical comedy, but don't call it slapstick – is like a reunion with an old friend. The best bit is still Hulot's attempt at painting a seascape on the Brittany shore. After each dip of his brush, the departing tide carries his paint pot out of view, only to return it just in time for the next. And the supporting cast – the daffy elderly couple, the bustling banker, the tiresome intellectual, the officious hotelier – is precisely the hoi polloi you really meet while traveling. When Hulot bids them farewell, it feels just like the end of Labor Day weekend. As consolation, the DVD includes a later short, "Soigne Ton Gauche" ("Watch Your Left").