The cast and crew of Mon Oncle watch Jacques Tati as M. Hulot, who is about to stumble into a fountain © Specta Films CEPEC–Les Films de Mon Oncle. From The Definitive Jacques Tati, which was published last year by Taschen
Discussed in this essay:
The Definitive Jacques Tati, edited by Alison Castle. Taschen. 1,136 pages. $225.
On the stage of a Swedish music hall, a sixty-four-year-old man in an elegantly cut brown riding costume, with top hat and white gloves, leads an invisible horse by an invisible bridle. As the animal tugs him behind a partition and he bounds up to mount, we catch sight of the horseman’s left leg. He reemerges and rides in circuits around the stage. But now the man has become both horse and rider, eyes alert and arms working the reins with formidable discipline…
