Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

"It's laugh-vacation time!"

1953 1h 27m FR

👍

6.9

SOLID

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.3

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 563🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●90Metacritic★7.3IMDB · 21,232

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom.

“It's laugh-vacation time!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Jacques Tati
Monsieur Hulot
Nathalie Pascaud
Martine
Louis Pérault
Fred
Micheline Rolla
The Aunt
Valentine Camax
Englishwoman
André Dubois
Commandant
Lucien Frégis
Hotel Proprietor
Raymond Carl
Waiter

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jacques Tati
Writers: Jacques Tati, Jacques Tati, Henri Marquet
Languages: English, French
Countries: France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

87 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

73 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jacques Tati, shot by Jacques Mercanton. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alain Romans. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Suzanne Baron shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jacques Tati and Nathalie Pascaud and Louis Pérault carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "It's laugh-vacation time!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jacques Tati directs. Jacques Mercanton behind the camera. Alain Romans scores. Suzanne Baron cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in France. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
273 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
4Directed by Jacques Tati, shot by Jacques Mercanton. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Alain Romans. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Suzanne Baron shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jacques Tati and Nathalie Pascaud and Louis Pérault carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "It's laugh-vacation time!".
9IMDB entry: tt0046487 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 17 themes, including "underdog", "hotel", "beach", "jazz".
11Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jacques Mercanton
Original score: Alain Romans
Editing: Suzanne Baron
Production design: Roger Briaucourt
Sound: Roger Cosson
Runtime: 87 min · 1h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: FR
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 90/100
IMDB rating: 7.3/10 · 21,232 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 wins & 3 nominations total

Louis Delluc Prize

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Jacques Tati

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-06-14
★ 7/10
Anyone remember the “Huggetts”? Well I reckon Jacques Tati had similar frolics in mind when he despatched “M. Hulot” on holiday just a few years after they had had their own holiday camp experience. Unlike them, though, “Hulot” has the seaside to serve as the foil for his dead-pan, slapstick, escapades as his arrival at a hitherto peaceful resort causes an equal measure of mayhem and havoc. Right from the outset in his glorified jalopy, you just know that this has comedic disaster written all over it and true to expectations, that is what we get. His unique style of playing tennis raises murmurs and eyebrows and one has to wonder if the perplexed “Martine” (Nathalie Pascaud) really knows what she is letting herself in for. For the most part the jokes are visible from space, but they still work well thanks to an amiably characterful delivery from Tati and an whole host of supporting folk who could all really be locals - with typically local responses to his haplessness. Though not quite of the circus variety, the sound effects do much of the work here in supplementing - even replacing - a dialogue that is there when needed, but not so much more prevalent than that in an early Chaplin movie. This also benefits from a much more fluid narrative. It’s not just a join-the-dots style of production, but more an overlapping series of sub-stories that don’t all work, but most of them thrive. Again, like his more reserved British counterparts from the later 1940s, Tati seems to be extolling the virtues of cinematic joy here. Fun for the sake of fun - and it’s quite contagious for an calamity-packed couple of hours.

Production companies