PlayTime [4K UHD]

Studio: The Criterion Collection

Feb 17, 2026 Web Exclusive By Cortlyn Kelly Photography by The Criterion Collection

Anything that can happen will happen, commonly known as Murphy’s Law, is conceptualized perfectly in Jacques Tati’s 1967 satirical comedy, PlayTime. As the chaotic, yet critical, film recirculates via the Criterion Collection, it continues to challenge and tickle audiences. Despite the fresh 4K remaster, with crisp colors and distinction in movements, PlayTime is still messy and quick-witted. It keeps us on our toes and our minds wondering about what mishap will come next. It’s like trying to select the correct cup that is hiding the ball, but tricks are for kids.

On its surface, PlayTime is about Monsieur Hulot (Tati) and an American tourist (Barbara Dennek) who are both navigating several public spaces throughout Paris. As the two become more complexly entangled, the distance between them decreases. But will a small series of unfortunate events become too much to bear? It’s certainly more tolerable when there’s also a laugh or two (and the prospect of love) along the way. The physicality and choreography of each comical moment is crucial in its landing.

Within PlayTime, Tati has built a world that is simultaneously vast and suffocating. Through each scene and each set, the scale sweeps away any sense of grounding, as if one is running up the escalator going down. Tati, who plays the lead Monsieur Hulot, is quite fed up with his own antics. As a lover of games, it’s important to know when to call it quits. Like a surrealist sketch of the possibilities of the future, PlayTime and Tati are aware of the advances that also beget new burdens. Walking through a museum of illusions would perhaps be less absurd but certainly more boring.

What’s most beautiful about this particular Criterion Collection addition to their canonical closet is the abundance of special features that can take us further down the rabbit hole. Special interviews, alternate soundtracks, and even explorations through other visual mediums, all is available for one to cultivate comprehension. Critics and historians alike are featured, giving their insights, but I’d argue PlayTime is most fun when it’s left unbounded by analysis.

Yet, PlayTime and Tati are why cinema can be cemented as something so grand and spectacular, for its ability to be analyzed, too, is endless.

(www.criterion.com/films/651-playtime)

Comments