During the filming of Playtime, the long construction of the sets, the in nite repetition and the incessant retakes created a real air of frustration on Tati’s set. During that diffcult period, the days dedicated to Cours du soir were a happy interval. Filmed by Tati’s assistant Nicolas Ribowski using Tati’s screenplay, this short film used the sets and actors from Playtime. e businessmen are transformed into good schoolboys looking for various ways to smoke a cigarette, get on a horse or fall down the stairs. The teacher for this course in ‘observation’ is Hulot who comes into the classroom and takes o his coat and hat, assuming the Jacques Tati’s traits. At the end of the lesson, the teacher takes a walk in the city. As he is walking in front of buildings, their facades are stripped away as if by magic, revealing an abandoned ground with some wooden shacks. Hulot disappears inside one of them. Cours de soir shows some of Tati’s skills for the first time on screen, and thanks to his modesty the short film provides a relevant comment on the epic adventure of Playtime, of which it is the mirror image. Unveiling the opposite of the screenplay and the characters, Tati also turns the observation onto himself.

Marc Dondey, Tati, Ramsay, Paris 2002