Monsieur Hulot takes his old-fashioned car on the road - his destination is seaside Hotel de la Plage, where he will spend his week-long vacation. The weather is perfect, the sea is perfect and the hotel is located right on the beach - what more could he expect? Unfortunately from the arrival Monsieur Hulot puts himself in rather embarrassing situations, not to mention his little bits of bad luck causes havoc among other guests and locals. Beautiful young woman Martine quickly gathers the attention of Monsieur Hulot and many other men that stumble upon her on the street or the beach. In the diner time Monsieur Hulot accidentally puts the hotel owner to a test of patience and from that point it is all heading towards a disaster.
First Jacques Tati film about his iconic character of Monsieur Hulot with all the trademarks that he later used in further films - almost no dialogues, tiny little inostensible details that later are used for a comic situation, the relaxed atmosphere and slow pace that seems to be flowing without any point, but later proves to be well developed concept. Similar to other Tati films this one is a bit unusual comedy, where only physical elements and situation comedy are used, yet it isn’t a flaw in any way - his approach to film-making was different from pretty much everybody else (it is hard to find similar style even in other French production) and it actually worked perfectly for him. Of course now his comedies might seem a bit outdated and old fashioned, but if you give them a chance you might be surprised.