Parade (1974)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Parade (1974) – J. Tati

The final feature from celebrated French director Jacques Tati (a.k.a. M. Hulot) was filmed for Swedish TV, apparently live in front of an audience on video (but then with additional footage shot later on film).  It’s a circus, complete with acrobats, jugglers, musicians (both classical and prog-rock), magicians, and, of course, Tati himself recreating some of his classic pantomimes (playing tennis, boxing, riding a horse, dancing).  The physicality of it all is very impressive (particularly Tati in his late sixties) and you can tell that Tati spent a lot of time with the sound effects and production (as he always did).  The feel of the film is exuberant and, as the acts roll on, the audience (dressed in incredible multi-coloured hippy outfits) gets fully involved in the show.  But is this really a naïve audience or perhaps there are actors and performers strewn throughout their midst – many jump up on stage, including a memorable old fellow who tries to jump on a mule.  The same droll humour found in all of Tati’s films is here, with a knowing, sometimes sentimental or sad, undertone that bespeaks of shared human experience.  Some might find this a lesser Tati film (continuing his attempt to recover an audience after the costly flop of the amazing Playtime), but I agree with Jonathan Rosenbaum that it demonstrates Tati’s masterful control of the material and the viewer’s responses while also deploying his major theme about the necessity of human connection.  Of course, one can’t avoid thinking about Fellini’s similar fascination with the circus as a metaphor for life and the music here often evokes Nino Rota’s scores for that other director.  This is not the place to start with Tati (that would probably be Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, 1953) but Parade functions well as a bittersweet goodbye.