He builds his films and scenes with a structural precision from the foundations up, carefully setting his base in place and then gradually layering on the detail, selecting his colour chart of preference - strongly adhered to, even when the film ultimately ended up in black and white as with Jour De Fete - and finally adding embellishment, often where it is least expected. In the case of Playtime he also literally built a kingdom - the well-documented Tativille, a sprawling set covering more than 15,000 square metres and boasting its own power plant that famously cost a packet. This architectural approach is matched by theme in the film, which uses the sleek glass and clean, if clinical, spaces of the mid-Sixties modern world as an environment in which to explore humanity's place in the city and attitudes to interior/exterior - and more particularly personal/private - space.