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The Big Day (Jour De Fete) (1949)

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Average Rating: 8.4/10
Reviews Counted: 14
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 2,295

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Movie Info

In Jacques Tati's charming -- and essentially plotless -- pre-Hulot first feature, Tati is Francois, a contented and happy postman in a small, unhurried French village. Francois is at ease with his job and leisurely performs his duties, peddling away on his rounds upon his beloved bicycle. Things perk up when a traveling carnival arrives in town. One of the attractions at the carnival is a film depicting the United States Postal Service's fast and efficient postal delivery system. The narrator

Unrated, 1 hr. 19 min.

Art House & International, Comedy

Directed By: Jacques Tati

In Theaters: Feb 19, 1952 Limited

Cast

Jacques Tati
Francois
Guy Decomble
Roger
Paul Frankeur
Marcel
Santa Relli
Roger's wife
Maine Vallee
Jeanette
Roger Rafal
The hair-dresser
Jacques Beauvais
The coffee-house keeper
Delcassan
The tattler

Critic Reviews for The Big Day (Jour De Fete)

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (0) | DVD (1)

Tati's feature debut is a brilliant, smart, timeless comedy, which immediately established his reputation as major director and auteur.

July 8, 2012 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

The originality of its design makes Tati's cinema unfold as it were a series of Looney Tunes episodes envisioned by Robert Altman.

January 2, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Press

| Comment

Eric Kohn

New York Press

Delightfully filled with physical slapstick and sight gags.

April 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Tati's directorial debut is also one of his funniest. Like his other movies, it's best to keep your eyes wide open and look at tiny images in the corner of the screen. Tati isn't playing M. Hulot in this flick, but he'll still make alert viewers' sides ac

November 3, 2002 Comment

Dan Lybarger

Lawrence Journal-World

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Audience Reviews for The Big Day (Jour De Fete)

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Comedy legend Jacques Tati directs, co-writes and stars in this charming look at a guileless postman bicycling his rounds in a small French village. The film is near plotless, unless you count a late section where Tati's character Francois sees a newsreel about American postal efficiency and strains to accelerate his

April 24, 2012

Eric Broome

Super Reviewer

Jacques Tati's first and my personal favorite of his. Charming and funny; no laugh-out-loud hysterics but it does make you laugh compared to his more famous films which only provoke smiles. This guy respected his viewers from beginning to end with moments of innocent sight gags and complex balancing of roles. See it to

June 11, 2009

Richard Cranium

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