Traffic

Jacques Tati's fifth picture in 25 years (his fourth, PLAYTIME, was not released until 1973), TRAFFIC is a collection of sight gags concerning the modern problem of automobile overpopulation. Tati again plays himself in this English-dubbed outing--the rain-coated, pipe-smoking eccentric--though now he has invented an ultramodern camping vehicle. With Kimberly, the public relations girl of his firm, he plans to take his new car from Paris to an Amsterdam auto show. A long series of misadventures befalls them.

Any plot synopsis of a Tati picture proves to be fruitless since what is most important are the visual gags. So vital are the visuals that Tati rarely uses ...