Jour de fête

In a small French village preparing for its annual fair, the postman François is a well-meaning but clumsy figure who spends more time chatting with locals and visiting the attractions than he does delivering mail. When a travelling fair arrives with its rides and shooting galleries, the villagers gather for the celebrations. A newsreel shown at the fair depicts the swift, modern methods of the United States postal service, and the amused townspeople tease François about his slow ways. Spurred on, he sets out to bring American efficiency to his rounds on his bicycle, with results that are chaotic rather than speedy.

Jour de Fête was released in 1949 and marks Jacques Tati's first feature as director. He also stars as François, the postman, a role that established the tall, gawky comic presence he would develop across his later films. Henri Marquet, René Wheeler and Tati wrote the screenplay, and the cast includes Guy Decomble as Roger, Paul Frankeur as Marcel, Santa Relli as Roger's wife, Maine Vallée as Jeannette and Roger Rafal as the hairdresser. The film runs 86 minutes.

Audiences have responded warmly to the film over the decades. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.2 from roughly 9,600 votes, while on TMDB it scores 7.1 from about 253 votes. Within Tati's filmography it stands as the first of the features he directed, preceding Monsieur Hulot's Holiday in 1953.