Mon Oncle's Unique Artistic Approach

     In Jacques Tati's film, Mon Oncle, the seemingly sporadic character-focus and film progression appears to categorize Tati as a director without aim or purpose. However, he is able to create a rather unique and unconventional story that the audience, upon first glance, may not understand. Throughout Mon Oncle, the boy's uncle seems to be an Inspector Clouseau-type character, a witless fool who just wanders about the city, but rather it is Tati's way of showing how not everyone fully merges correctly with their environment, especially with technology. Everyone else in the town consumes new technology and the newest, most expensive thing is what impresses neighbors, but the boy's uncle fails to abide by this lifestyle. He is a true outsider of the consumerist world, and chooses to leave it at the end of the film.
     Tati, however, does not blatantly express this theme, like most tend to do, through his dialogue. He instead uses a very unconventional method of film producing, and artistically expresses this outcast theme through sounds and sights, a steady segment of squirrel-like attention. Mon Oncle possesses a very minimal amount of dialogue, and when there is, it is used to help enhance the visual theme the movie is expressing. Every time the uncle and boy are in the market-place in the less-industrious side of town, there is a buzz of commotion, showing individuals interacting and enjoying each other's company, but every time they are at the boy's home, there is a deafening silence, unless of course some automatic cupboard needs opening. Also, the uncle, when faced with some new technological boundary, seems to be completely oblivious, such as when he tries to work at Plastac and cannot even make a tube correctly. This, however, is not an expression of ignorance, but rather one of questioning technology's relevance. Tati never expresses directly a disdain for technology and consumerism, but through his unique shots and character interaction, the audience is able to fully see his true meaning and theme of Mon Oncle.