Jacques Tati season at Northampton Filmhouse to run alongside Royal & Derngate’s stage production of his film Playtime

Jacques Tati is regarded as among the most innovative and influential comic filmmakers of the 20th century.

He wrote and starred in all six of the feature films that he directed, usually in the role of the lovably old fashioned clownish Monsieur Hulot. Northampton Filmhouse will be showing three classic films featuring Monsieur Hulot, on consecutive Sunday afternoons in September.

The Filmhouse season starts with Mr Hulot’s Holiday on Sunday 4 September. This 1953 film sees Tati’s beloved bumbling clown come to a beachside hotel for a vacation, where he accidentally causes chaos.

Next, on Sunday 11 September, is the 1958 movie My Uncle in which Monsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law and nephew, but he can’t quite fit into the surroundings.

The season ends on Sunday 18 September with Trafic, from 1971, which sees Hulot drive from Paris to Amsterdam in his usual comic, disastrous style.

Recently named among the top films of all time by the BFI, Jaques Tati’s glorious Parisian comedy Playtime has now been adapted for the stage by award-winning physical theatre-makers Dancing Brick, who are celebrated for their comic and visual ingenuity.

Playtime takes to the Royal stage from Friday 2 to Saturday 17 September. Tickets can be booked by calling Box Office on 01604 624811 or online at www.northamptonfilmhouse.com for the films or www.royalandderngate.co.uk for theatre tickets, where details can also be found for a value-added combined ticket for the play and a film.