Trafic Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Trafic Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 2, 2014

Nominated for Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, Jacques Tati's "Trafic" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and an episode of the British television program Omnibus in which the French director is interviewed by film critic Gavin Millar. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Stuck in traffic

Trafic is part of Criterion's upcoming The Complete Jacques Tati Blu-ray box set, which will be available for purchase later this month.

Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot is on his way to an international auto show in Amsterdam where he is expected to present the Altra company’s newest creation -- an ultra-modern camping vehicle equipped with just about everything one could think of, from a built-in barbeque to an adjustable shower head. Also heading to the show is Maria (Maria Kimberly), the company’s fashionable PR representative. Hulot is traveling in a station wagon with the company’s manager, while Maria is driving her fancy sports car.

Soon after the truck transporting the camping vehicle leaves Paris, the Altra employees realize that this may turn out to be the worst trip of their lives -- first the truck gets a flat tire, then it runs out of gas and ends up in a massive traffic jam. Later on, at the border it is also seized by the Dutch police.

Hulot and Maria do their best to help as much as they can, but the more they try, the more problems they create. Meanwhile, the auto show in Amsterdam begins without the Altra company’s future hit.

Despite the massive chaos Tati’s final film with Hulot follows a familiar path -- its ultimate destination is well known and it is only a matter of time before Hulot and the viewer get there. This isn’t to imply that there aren’t any surprises in it, but the journey is indeed fairly straightforward.

While some of the best sequences feature Hulot, the camera does not follow him closely. He is part of the big chaos but frequently moves from one location to another while the camera is busy documenting an important event. In these sequences the movement is not as complex as that witnessed in Playtime -- Trafic had a much smaller budget and it clearly shows -- but at times it is still quite difficult to keep track of everything that takes place on the screen.

As it is the case with the rest of Tati’s films about Hulot, in Trafic there are various unique sounds and noises that are almost always a lot more important than the dialog. In fact, many of the best sequences are either completely free of dialog or feature only a few random lines -- the facial expressions and the bodies do all the meaningful talking.

There is plenty of humor, but the film also produces some serious observations about consumerism, the power of advertising, and people’s ability to communicate with each other. A few look dated, but the rest are still relevant today.

Initially Trafic was intended to be a collaboration between Tati and Dutch filmmaker Bert Haanstra, but after a series of disputes the latter left. A Swedish film crew which was documenting the shooting of Trafic helped Tati complete the film. One of its members was Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat, The Shipping News), who directed his first feature film a few years after Trafic.

Trafic Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jacques Tati's Trafic arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The release uses as a foundation StudioCanal's recent 2K restoration of the film. (You can see our review of the UK Blu-ray release of Trafic here). Unsurprisingly, depth and clarity are enormously impressive. Viewers with very large screens or projectors, in particular, will be very pleased with the substantial improvements. Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. As it was the case with the Region-B release, there are no traces of compromising degraining or sharpening corrections. Colors are stable, lush and natural, but I must mention again that the overall tonal balance is a bit too warm for my taste. Still, for this particular film this is an appearance that I don't find to be problematic. There are no stability issues. Lastly, the encoding and compression are excellent. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Trafic Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The film has a very unique sound design -- there are all sorts of random sounds and noises and quite often the dialog is intentionally muffled. The goal is to have the viewer placed in the middle of the cacophony and in a way experience it as the film's characters do. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review.

Trafic Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Jacques Jacques Tati's Trafic. In French, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• "Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot's Work" - presented here is an episode of the British television program Omnibus in which film critic Gavin Millar interviews Jacques Tati at the Hotel de la Plage (from Monsieur Hulot's Holiday). The French actor/director recalls how different sequences from the film were shot and framed, and discusses the slapstick effects, his famous character, the important role sounds and noises have in his films, the odd "modern" environment seen in his films, etc. Also included in the episode are clips from various films and plenty of archival footage. The episode was broadcast in 1976. In English, not subtitled. (50 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - a booklet featuring essays by critics David Cairns, James Quandt, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and Kristin Ross. (Please note that the booklet is included inside the box set).

Trafic Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I mentioned in our review of StudioCanal's Blu-ray release of Jacques Tati's Trafic that most people who have previously seen the film only on DVD will be very pleased with the way it looks now. It has been recently restored in 4K and in terms of detail and clarity the improvements are indeed quite dramatic. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Trafic uses as a foundation the same restoration. Unsurprisingly, the film looks just as fresh and healthy as it does on the Region-B release. However, there are different supplemental features, and not only on this release. The Complete Jacques Tati box set will be available for purchase later this month. RECOMMENDED.