Writer and director Jacques Tati plays the title character in this easygoing dose of vacation comedy. Hulot is a fun-loving man, perhaps a bit ignorant, whose oafish nature and noisy tendencies offend the stiff, upper-middle-class types vacationing in the same beach resort. Heralded by his spitting, sputtering old rag-top sports car, he bursts upon the tranquil scene like a hydrogen bomb, but eventually gives in to the spirit of the seaside, finding fleeting dashes of romance and relaxation amidst the salted air.

What’s most striking about this is how passive and subdued everything feels. Where many western comedies are stuffed to the gills, breathless exhibits of punchlines and pratfalls, _Monsieur Hulot_ is often content to merely set a serene mood and savor it. Paired with the still, peaceful scenery, Hulot’s contrasting absurdities (and the laughs found elsewhere in the picture) hit a little harder. An example: the minute-long cutaway depicting a young boy, who carefully climbs a set of steep stairs with a dribbling cone of ice cream in each hand. As he ascends, the tension of “will this adorable youngster slip and spoil his treat” grows thicker with each deliberate step. The scene isn’t a gag, though, just an observation, and its quiet, uneventful resolution (he delivers the second cone to a friend in the hotel lobby) coaxes us into letting our guards down. It’s also a great example of the kind of warmth and contentedness that seeps from every frame. Tough to be in a bad mood after ninety minutes of this.

As complete films go, this one lacks. There’s very little dialogue and only the barest scraps of a storyline. The scenery rarely changes, and the same is true of its characters. Most aren’t even named. But that’s not the point. This is a comedy about social nuance, or the lack thereof, and how one out-of-place actor can incite others to accidentally show their own silly side. Its humor is subtle and downplayed, but those who pay attention should find it very well-timed. The casual pace took some work to appreciate, but once I got over that hump I found it downright sublime. You won’t laugh the whole way, but you’ll certainly enjoy the experience.