performance versus reality

His films blur the boundaries between theatrical performance and authentic human experience, particularly in masterpieces like 8½ where cinema itself becomes a meditation on artifice versus truth.

Through physical comedy and meticulously choreographed scenes, Tati exposes the performative nature of modern life and the gap between how people present themselves and who they truly are.

His films obsessively examine constructed identities and deceptive performances, from the unreliable narrator of Fight Club to the manipulative personas in Gone Girl and The Social Network.