Discuss Jour de Fête
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The Three Versions
posted by RenoirSTAFFMOD on September 26, 2020 at 4:33 AM
Three versions of the film have been released. The reason goes back to Tati having been receptive to a proposal by the Thompson-Houston Company to use its color film, which used a new, experimental, process, but having had the foresight to shoot in parallel using a second camera with black and white film. This decision would turn out to be prescient, as Thompson did not succeed in processing the color negative into color prints. Tati thus initially released the black and white version of the film (86 minutes) in 1949.
He later had some cells hand-colored (by stencil) and in 1961 showed some scenes of the film thus, the reception for which encouraged him to release a re-cut, partially colorized version (80 minutes) in 1964.
In 1988, shortly after Tati's death, his daughter and François Ede undertook the restoration of the original color film, which was completed(*) and released in 1995 (80 minutes). Ede made a documentary about the color restoration project.
(*) Some scenes missing from the color negatives were filled in by colorizing the corresponding scenes from the black and white version.
Reply by rooprect
on October 3, 2023 at 9:44 AM
Just watched the 1995 color version, having seen the original 1949 b&w but not the 1964 partial-color recut. It's pretty clear that Tati really wanted this to be a color spectacle so I'm all for a color version. However, the state of the 1995 print is comparably weak and could benefit from a good digital restoration. Jour de fête, like all Tati films, relies on a wide angle lens to sell the gags, so any film degradation leads to a lot of washed out details.
Tati's films rely on details. Many of his chaotic shots can be compared to a "find Waldo" image; the fun is in deciphering every minuscule event that's happening in the frame. Unfortunately a lot of these details are lost in the 1995 color print.
On the other hand, we can see how color really augments the gags. For example there's the gag where he's delivering a telegram which the goat grabs while he's not looking. It's funny in the original b&w, but it's even funnier in the color version because the telegram is a bright blue color that really stands out from the otherwise earthtone/sepia room & furniture. As he's comically searching for the telegram we see it plainly, bright blue, in the goat's mouth.
There's also the ovearll theme & symbolism of this once-a-year fête bringing color & excitement to the rustic village. It's even in the dialogue, as the old lady 'narrator' says to the young girls: "Go enjoy yourselves in your pretty colored dresses!" Symbolically it touches on Tati's frequent old vs. new theme, here with a cheerful nod. The color version drives the point visually with the old lady dressed in provincial black while the young girls are in bright colors.
So yeah, this movie really needs to be seen in color.
I really hope someone does a full digital remaster of the 1995 version because that's literally the one Tati wanted us to see. The b&w "official" version was just a backup. But seeing how much trouble went to just getting the color film printed at all, I'm really happy that it was released and included on the Criterion disc. As great has he was, Tati still doesn't have mainstream recognition in the USA, so it would have to be a labor of love (as his daughter's project was). But I'm sure in the years to come, as digital restoration gets easier with AI, someone will do it.