Bellos has written a perfectly balanced personal biography and artistic critique of Jaques Tati's work in mime and cinema. Anyone who has caught the Tati 'bug' watching his very limited out output of movies - 'Jour de fete', 'Les Vacances de M. Hulot', 'Mon Oncle', 'Playtime' or 'Traffic' will appreciate this engagingly written retelling of the extraordinary story of their creator and their creation. Tati, and his work, lived on the edge of professional and artistic oblivion for so long that their survival is a small miracle, analogous to M. Hulot's progress through life, serenely detached from the chaos around him, holding to some inner compass, a decent man with a message for those wise enough to see it. Tati subscribed neither to the French cinemagraphic schools, nor the Hollywood juggernaut, preferring to craft his own work in the tradition of French mime and circus/cabaret where he started, and where he ended. This was a financially disastrous strategy, and nearly destroyed his creations, even to the point where they were auctioned off at a bankruptcy sale and locked in a bank vault for ten years. Bellos treats Tati with affection while noting his considerable faults. But the real achievement of Bellos is to tell Tati's story alongside (and inside) his creations, and at the same time to create a vivid picture of French (and European) society and arts from the 1930's through to the 1980's. ( )