As a "Ulysses-like" movie, "Playing Time" basically abandons narrative. The background of the film is set in modern Paris, and a series of trivial incidents from one afternoon to the next morning are presented around the protagonist Mr. Yu Luo and a foreign tour group. The coherent plot, the core conflict, the intense and exciting climax... These important elements in mainstream movies are all absent from the film. Even if there are several main characters in the film, the lens is basically kept outside the panorama, and the audience can hardly see the faces of the characters. The dialogue between the characters is just a few simple exchanges, sparse and trivial, and does not assume the function of narrative at all, nor does it convey any important information to the audience. As the mainstream expression method of film art, narration has always been popular among the people, but it is also a kind of restraint to a certain extent. After breaking free of this bondage, the characters in the film can exist more freely, and no longer appear blunt and abrupt because they assume a certain function. The director's expression is also liberated from this, and he can more freely explore the topics he cares about and present the content he wants to present. Just as Jacques Tati in "Playing Time" focuses on the comic side of daily life-the ubiquitous laughter gimmick in the picture.
"Playing Time" also explores the saturation of the image to further challenge the audience. A large number of shots in the film have a very dense amount of information, and there are many characters. From the foreground to the background of the shot, there are characters active, and the activities of the characters "do their own things", and there is no dramatic center. There are often several points of laughter coexist in a shot, scattered in every corner of the screen, like a treasure hunt, inviting the audience to find them one by one. It can also be regarded as a liberation of the audience’s sight. In these images with super-large depth of field and saturation, the audience can choose the focus they want to pay attention to as they wish, like being in a communist society, "getting on demand" and experiencing one. Kind of completely free viewing. Bright lighting, deep focus photography, five-sound track stereo and the use of 70mm film all maximize the depth of field and enhance this extraordinary viewing experience.
"Playing Time" leads us into a completely free viewing time and space during the two hours of watching, but this superficially loose form is achieved by an internally powerful schedule. The authority of the director is everywhere, all over time and space. Every trace of texture. For the filming of "Playing Time", Tati spent a lot of money to build a "Tati City" outside of Paris. This small city has its own power supply system and traffic roads. In the film, the color of the costumes of the small characters, the performances of the laughs everywhere in the screen, the lights of the city night scene, the atmosphere of the restaurant from the excitement to the people walking in the tea are all under the control of the director’s will, and the scene scheduling is from one to the other. This kind of superficial noness moves towards the inner infinity. As Truffaut said: "A film by Bresson or Tati must be a work of a genius, only because of a single and absolute authority, it is enforced from the beginning to the end of the play."
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