Soigne ton gauche 1936

Soigne ton gauche is the third and best known of Tati’s earliest films. Tati’s genius is in total display here. Everything is finely crafted: the authenticity of the natural rural settings, that would be one of the audacious elements of Jour de Fête: the amateurish and improvised nature of things seem like a friendly, inside joke among friends; the solo pantomime of the factory boy, boxing an invisible adversary in the barn is an early expression of Tati’s spirit of repressed combativeness; the sweater with the same striped pattern as Mr. Hulot’s socks; the postman, a picturesque character drawn with an already sure hand; and finally the child-like spirit, seen in the kids who film with a coffee grinder – all embryos of the major themes that he would develop in the future, in this case without any quality of it being an illusory look back. What this film highlights, however, aside from similar details found in future works, is one of the fundamental components of Tati’s comedy,