Grand prix de l'académie du cinéma, Paris, 1968.
Médaille d'argent au festival de Moscou, 1969.
Prix du festival du film de Vienne, 1969.
Oscar du cinéma suédois, Stockholm, 1969.
Playtime is the epic of the modern world. Everything has the same size as the highways and the buildings. Tati gives up the 35 mm in favor of the 70 mm. When you have to film a frontage, the 35 mm shows only few windows, but the 70 mm shows the whole building.
Playtime is firstly a set: the hall of an airport, the interior and surroundings of some modern buildings, and the interior of a restaurant.
Tati thought that he could film his movie on location, but the cost and the material difficulties forced him to avoid this part of his project. Then he began to build Tativille, the background of his movie, on the East side of Paris near Vincennes. The construction began in July 1964. 2 electricity plants were also built. The construction was finished in January 1965.
A lot of cars enable Tati to simulate heavy traffic.
On the scene, the technicians and the actors discover step by step what Tati wants from them. He explains that the actors perform better when they do not know all the details of the scenario.
Tati's requirements (shooting again and again the same sequences) and the accumulation of delays make Tati get into very important financial difficulties.
Playtime was to have a very bad career: Hulot is not visible enough, and the number of cinema rooms with 70 mm projectors is too small. Tati must accept his failure.
