P4 Time-Image Research ProjectP4 THEATER · DELEUZE
Identification poster for PlayTime
IMDb identification poster · for film identification only

Jacques Tati / 雅克·塔蒂 · 1967

PlayTime

PlayTime

Glass, reflections, machine noise, and distant actions disperse the comic centre. Sonic gags gain effects independent of visible action.

Film details

Original title
PlayTime
Director
Jacques Tati / 雅克·塔蒂
Year
1967
Region
France

Film analysis: how shots organize concepts

ATLAS MECHANISM BREAKDOWN

Glass reflections, dispersed actions, and sounds detached from their sources repeatedly cancel a single centre of comedy, requiring the modern milieu to be watched and heard like a polyphonic map.

  1. 01
    Glass repeatedly displaces the target

    Hulot pursues the man he is meant to meet through an airport-like office block, where glass partitions, identical cubicles, reflections, and distant figures generate wrong entrances and recognitions.

    The space remains highly ordered yet cannot support a stable perception-action route.
  2. 02
    Sound moves attention off-centre

    On the Royal Garden's opening night, chair cushions pop, a glass door shatters, neon wiring fails, and gags occur simultaneously in different parts of the long shot.

    Sound no longer accompanies a central action; it acts as a pointer requiring the viewer to search the frame for relations.
  3. 03
    Breakdown recomposes public space

    A handle carried by the doorman continues to function as an intact glass door, collapsed décor is remade into an enclosure by guests, and morning traffic circles the roundabout like a fairground ride.

    Breakdown does not merely destroy order; it produces new connections among objects, sounds, and bodies.
Atlas analysis · evidence classification unrecorded.
Reading attribution: Atlas editorial synthesis · Sources and locators

Close-reading questions

  1. 01
    How do glass, reflections, and distant actions disperse the comic centre?
  2. 02
    When do machine and environmental sounds acquire effects independent of visible action?

Analysis and scene sources

Shots and scenes

Read the complete film analysis: shot relations, temporal structure, and concepts

Primary texts, scholarship, and locators

Theory coordinate: Cinema 2, ch. 4, p. 68; ch. 9, p. 240

  1. 01
    Cinema 2: The Time-Image

    Authoritative source for the standard translation, translators, ISBN, and publication date.

    Open the atlas source record →
Consult the primary-text locator above.
Douban film searchsearch.douban.comBilibili film searchsearch.bilibili.com

Viewing gateways and editions

  1. Verified complete Bilibili carrier: 玩乐时间 1967 雅克·塔蒂bilibili.comOpen film page ↗
    Page access
    Accessible when checked
    Version extent
    Recorded as a complete version
    Source type
    User-uploaded page

    Edition note: Complete single-part film.

    Link checked: 2026-08-13

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Concepts, terms, and further reading

Concept and term tests

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