Mon Oncle

MON ONCLE begins in a setting that could best be described as "French cliché of a U.S. suburb," even though the film is set in France: Luxurious, fully automated single-family homes and lots of cars in strict formation, stressed-out employees and strangely dressed housewives who compensate for their blandness with an excessive obsession with cleaning. Little Gérard lives in one of these houses with his parents.

Then it's off to the other side of town, to where Monsieur Hulot lives. Of course, in the attic of an old, multi-story apartment building with large shutters, plants on the balconies and a canary that sings all the time. The connection: Hulot is Gérard's uncle, his mother's brother and the black sheep of the family. Gérard, however, loves him dearly; the uncle, who regularly picks him up from school, is his only escape from the standardized modern suburban tristesse - under his supervision he is allowed to get dirty and play tricks on other adults. Gérard's parents are concerned about the bad influence, and decide to "socialize" Hulot to their liking - an endeavor that, of course, can only go spectacularly comically wrong.