Mon Oncle- Retro Futuristic House of Dreams

You've no idea how long I've looked for Mon Oncle. My memories of it as a child are fuzzy. It was on after another cartoon or film my Dad had taped for us, and very often the VHS would just play on long after our part had finished, and this film came on.

Mon Oncle is a French film, but as Wikipedia and my memory tells me, there is very little dialogue. Most of the spoken word is used more as sound effect rather than plot device. This meant it was even harder for me to pin point this film as an adult.

All I could recall was this not silent, but not plotted garden party. It seemed to stretch out for hours when I watched it as a kid, the setting up of the doomed garden party & slapstick comedy which I didn't really get. It was the sort of film that would return to you in delirious, sweaty nightmares.

As a teen and adult I've often wondered about what the film actually was. It seemed pretty hopeless googling garden party film etc, as nothing familiar came back. It was a missing piece of my childhood that I couldn't pin down.

This morning I was reading this article on Buzzfeed about The Powerpuff Girls, and an image shows their home was based on the house in a film called Mon Oncle. Something just clicked. Not the name, but the aesthetic. I googled the film and found it described as I remember, very little dialogue, a garden party. I can't believe I've actually found out what it is after this long. And look at the styling of the house, retro futuristic Eames era, and everything I've ended up decorating my home with. An early implant of kitsch, how bizarre.