tativille
Before filming Playtime, Tati visited cities in Europe and
America in an effort to understand the universal architectural tropes of the
Modernists. He then attempted to film in real locations around Paris but it
became apparent early on that it would impossible to to completely stop
activities at Orly Airport to allow for set ups etc.and his experiments at
various supermarkets, department stores and office blocks ended badly so he
eventually decide to build his own city, Tativille, to allow completion of his
movie.
Tativille was constructed on the plateau de Gravelle,
an industrial site of around 15000 square meters. Constructed in collaboration
with Eugene Roman, Tativille was an adventure in cardboard and scaffolding, with
facades that were often only photographs and some of the sets mounted on rails
to allow their use in different locations and shots, the project took over
three years and was to lead to the financial ruin of Tati who mortgaged his
house and signed away the rights to his earlier films in an effort to maintain
the production. President Pompidou himself eventually intervened, organising a
special credit line to allow completion
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