Playtime

Please note: This screening is taking place at Ultimate Picture Palace, Jeune Street, Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1BN.

Jacques Tati’s dazzling modernist comedy turns the supposedly perfect city into a playground of bureaucratic absurdity.

As Monsieur Hulot and a group of American tourists navigate a maze of glass, steel, offices, shops and restaurants, Playtime gently skewers the utopian promises of modern architecture, consumer culture and technological efficiency while finding unexpected freedom and human connection in the chaos. 

The film will open with a special introduction from a speaker from the University of Oxford.

Part of Utopia Now!, a season exploring the role of the arts in making a better future possible.

About the Laughing at Utopia Film Series

This film series, curated by the TORCH Humour Network in collaboration with Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford’s oldest independent cinema, explores the playful and provocative relationship between utopia and satire.

Find out more

Films in the series

• Tuesday 20 October : El ángel exterminador  (The Exterminating Angel), 1962, Luis Buñuel.
• Tuesday 10 November: Playtime, Jacques Tati. (Please note: This screening is taking place at Ultimate Picture Palace)
• Tuesday 17 November: Kynodontas (Dogtooth), Yorgos Lanthimos.
• Tuesday 1 December: Yek Tasadof-e Sade (It Was Just An Accident), Jafar Panahi. (Please note: This screening is taking place at Ultimate Picture Palace)