After viewing Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960) in class, I recently revisited Tati’s epic 1967 film Playtime to unpack the uses, possible sources and intentions of the sounds. What I discovered was a hyperreal post-synched sound that gave me the sense of a modern day detachment of human intimacy.
I also noticed that, throughout the interior scenes of the film, there is a constant electrical buzz. This buzz reminds me of the sound of a an old single coiled electric guitar. This could be layered with a secondary hum though, having been recorded as a mono signal, there is only so far this layering could be pushed.
In a slapstick and typically Tati-esque sequence, the hyper-accentuated noise of a belching chair offers a comedic interlude where a piece of slick modern furniture is reduced to nothing more than a fart joke. It is as if Tati is speaking directly to those who submit to ostentatious yet fundamental items, it is as if he is imploring them, and all viewers, to not take themselves too seriously.
The non-diegetic music by Francis Lemarque reminds the mainstream viewer to stay focused and not be marginalised by Tati’s highly esoteric themes and subtle in-jokes.
The overall intention with the sound seems to deliver the sense of ubiquitous faulty gadgets. They invade the viewer’s aural space making us feel claustrophobic, alone and out of our depth.
One can’t help but acknowledge the film’s prescience. Playtime’s use of sound has us feel as though we are rats in the wheel of an ever growing machine that is bigger than all of us. Therefore, I’m hoping to produce a piece of audio visual media that applies the same themes of detachment and hyperreality as I believe it is just as relevant today.
Tati, J 1967, Playtime, Bernard Maurice.
