The gifts

That's why the ending of the film is so beautiful. The modern world on one hand gets in the way of human relations, but, on the other hand, cannot suppress them. It is indeed sad that the girl never knows the gift is Hulot's. But she receives the gift after all, and enjoys it. And in the gift's box, there's a symbol of the meaning of the movie, a true gift for the audience: the flower which resembles the street lamps. The girl recognises the similarity, she has learnt to view the world in a creative and constantly surprising way.

It might also be understood as a comment on modern aesthetic. Where Mon oncle was unfriendly and critical to modern architecture, Playtime's view of the modern landscape combines that attitude with a paradoxical fascination for it. After an initial shock, it becomes strangely beautiful.

We are humans, and if the environment doesn't seem at first ideal for us to live in it, we can humanise it with our presence. With the way we look at it (so it can become fascinating after a while). With our commitment with ourselves as humans. It is a message full of hope which, in the film, starts to be developed in the restaurant sequence, where people have fun because they don't allow the design to dictate on them. It is a very long segment which, in my opinion constitutes the heart of the film: the design is adapted to us humans and not the other way around.

These are my subjective views on the film, anyway. I could talk about it for hours...