Playtime (Blu-ray)

Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in an age of high technology reached their apotheosis with PlayTime. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the lovably old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a baffling modern world, this time Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, PlayTime is a lasting record of a modern era tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.

TWO-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 4K digital restoration, with 3.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• Introduction by actor and comedian Terry Jones
• Three selected-scene commentaries, by film historian Philip Kemp, theater director Jérôme Deschamps, and Jacques Tati expert Stéphane Goudet
• Like Home, a visual essay by Goudet
• “Tativille,” a 1967 television program featuring an interview with Tati from the set of PlayTime
• Beyond “PlayTime,” a short documentary featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the production
• Interview with script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot
• Audio interview with Tati from the U.S. debut of PlayTime at the 1972 San Francisco International Film Festival
• Tati Story, a short film by Goudet on the life and career of Tati
• “Monsieur Hulot’s Work,” a 1976 television program about Tati’s beloved character
• Cours du soir (1967), a short film written by and starring Tati
• Alternate English-language soundtrack
• PLUS: An essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum