8th December 2005
Directed by: Jacques Tati
Staring: Jacques Tati, Guy Decomble, Paul Frankeur, Santa Relli
France, 1948
In this wonderful life-affirming comedy a sleepy French village is awoken by the arrival of the annual fair, where the well-meaning but accident-prone village postman is inspired by a newsreel about the US Postal Service.
Impelled to upgrade his rural round after the new-fangled American manner, his innocent determination overcomes everything that mischievous fate places in his path. In an utterly inspired performance Tati executes absurd acrobatics with astonishing finesse and grace, coaxing the utmost of comic effect from the barest of means and establishing the enduring comic persona that was to feature in many of his subsequent films.