Mon Oncle (1958)

Mon Oncle (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃n‿ɔ̃kl]; transl. My Uncle) is a 1958 French-language comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. The first of Tati's films to be released in colour, Mon Oncle won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Special Prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film, receiving more honours than any of Tati's other cinematic works.

The film centers on the socially awkward yet lovable character of Monsieur Hulot and his quixotic struggle with postwar France's infatuation with modern architecture, mechanical efficiency and consumerism. Like most Tati films, Mon Oncle is largely a visual comedy: colour and lighting are employed to help tell the story. The dialogue in Mon Oncle is barely audible, and largely subordinated to the role of a sound effect. The drifting noises of heated arguments and idle banter complement other sounds and the physical movements of the characters, intensifying comedic effect. The complex soundtrack also uses music to characterise environments, including a lively musical theme that represents Hulot's world of comical inefficiency and freedom.

At its debut in 1958 in France, Mon Oncle was denounced by some critics for what they viewed as a reactionary or even poujadiste view of an emerging French consumer society, which had lately embraced a new wave of industrial modernization and a more rigid social structure. However, this criticism soon gave way in the face of the film's huge popularity in France and abroad – even in the United States, where rampant discretionary consumption and a recession had caused those on both the right and the left to question the economic and social values of the era. The film was another box office success for Tati, with a total of 4,576,928 admissions in France.