PlaytimeU

Directed by Jacques Tati | France | 1967 | 2h 4m | French w/ English subtitles | Starring Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maiden, France Rumilly, Valérie Camille

Jacques Tati’s dazzling modernist comedy turns the supposedly perfect city into a playground of bureaucratic absurdity. As Monsieur Hulot and a group of American tourists navigate a maze of glass, steel, offices, shops and restaurants, Playtime gently skewers the utopian promises of modern architecture, consumer culture and technological efficiency while finding unexpected freedom and human connection in the chaos.

This screening is presented in partnership with The Schwarzman Centre as part of their ‘Laughing at Utopia: Utopia & Satire Film Series’. The screening will be introduced by Oxford University speaker from the TORCH Humour Network, exploring its particular take on utopian dreams, social order and their comic undoing.

Reviews

‘Jacques Tati’s 1967 masterpiece still holds up as a feast of subtle sight gags, playful noise and, above all, visual wonders.’
★★★★★
Dave Calhoun, Time Out

‘For my money Playtime is the greatest film ever made.’
★★★★★
David Jenkins, Little White Lies

Book tickets

Tuesday 10 November

 6.00pmBook tickets

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Today (Wednesday 23rd September)
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15:30

Bitter Christmas 15
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18:00

Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Mias 15
1h 52m
Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) unleashes a bloody, bewildering meta-horror, as a young director and a reclusive scream queen descend into a delirious world of queer desire, fear and blood-soaked obsession. Starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.

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20:30

Trainspotting 18
1h 34m
Danny Boyle’s electrifying adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s cult novel remains a visceral portrait of addiction, alienation and self-destruction. Back on the big screen for the film's 30th anniversary, Trainspotting is as exhilarating, darkly comic and provocative as ever.

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Tomorrow (Thursday 24th September)
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14:30

De Gaulle: Résistance 15
2h 38m | French w/ English subtitles
June 1940: France has fallen. Army general Charles de Gaulle refuses to accept defeat, fleeing to London to rally resistance. Simon Russell Beale plays Churchill in this internationally cast first chapter of Antonin Baudry's two-part historical epic. x§

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18:00

Little Women U
2h 15m
The four March sisters chase ambition, love, and independence in 19th-century Massachusetts. Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Laura Dern star in Greta Gerwig's warm take on Louisa May Alcott's classic. Craft-A-Long screening presented by Together We Make.

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20:45

I Want Your Sex 18
1h 30m
Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde star in Gregg Araki’s (Mysterious Skin) wickedly satirical comedy about sex, obsession and power. When a young man becomes an artist’s sexual muse, his dream job takes a dark and dangerous turn.

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Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!

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