Mammuth

Mammuth
File:Mammuth.jpg Film poster
Directed by	Benoît Delépine Gustave de Kervern
Produced by	Mat Troi Day
Written by	Benoît Delépine Gustave de Kervern
Starring	Gérard Depardieu Yolande Moreau
Music by	Gaëtan Roussel
Cinematography	Hugues Poulain
Edited by	Stéphane Elmadjian
Distributed by	Ad Vitam Distribution (France)Axiom Films (UK and Ireland)
Release dates	19 February 2010 (2010-02-19) (Berlinale) 21 April 2010 (2010-04-21) (France)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Budget	$2.5 million
Box office	$12.7 million

Mammuth is a 2010 French drama film directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern. It was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. For her role, Yolande Moreau was nominated for Best Actress at the 1st Magritte Awards.

File:Mammuth 2010.jpg

Directors, stars and producers at a premiere in Paris.

Plot

Serge Pilardosse (Depardieu), retires from the job he has held for many years, as a slaughterhouse worker in Lyon. His colleagues throw him an impromptu party and give him a gift, which he doesn't like. Once home, he becomes all too quickly restless and realizes that being retired is kind of boring, as he has nothing to do. Eventually his wife convinces him to go and see about claiming a pension.

At the pensions office, he discovers that even though he has never missed a day's work for illness, nor been unemployed since college, he cannot claim a pension due to a few gaps in his pensions history, which he has to verify with 10 written proofs from each employer in question. Back home, his wife insists that he goes for the required papers so that the pensions claim can be processed. He takes his Münch Mammut, nicknamed "Mammuth" and sails off through France to retrieve the documents.

File:Münch Mammut Motorradmuseum Ibbenbüren.jpg

The Munch-4 TTS 1200 Mammut model used in the film.

Over the course of his endeavor, he loses his way and wonders about the sense of his life. He relives memories from his past, especially concerning his girlfriend who many years ago who died in a motorcycle accident. He visits his old places of employment, old friends and family—including his estranged brother, and makes amends with him. He also gets to know his niece, who introduces him to the world of naïve art. Realising that people used perceive him as a bit of a jerk, he returns to his brother's house and his niece takes him into her world where he re-discovers himself and the poet within. Eventually he visits the site where the accident happened. He places a remembrance bouquet and shakes off the memories, finally liberating himself. He returns to his wife newly invigorated, happy about his future.

Cast

• Gérard Depardieu as Serge Pilardosse
• Yolande Moreau as Catherine Pilardosse, his wife
• Isabelle Adjani as Serge's late girlfriend
• Miss Ming as Solange Pilardosse, Serge's niece
• Catherine Hosmalin as Catherine's friend
• Benoît Poelvoorde as the competitor
• Philippe Nahon as Hospital's director
• Bouli Lanners as The recruiter
• Bruno Lochet as The restaurant's client
• Gustave Kervern as The delicatessen employee
• Serge Larivière
• Dick Annegarn

Reception

The movie received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 63% of 24 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 5.3/10. Metacritic gave the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 5 critics.

Variety's Jay Weissberg described the film as "occasionally amusing". Matthew Turner from "View Auckland" shared this opinion ("frequently hilarious") but also complained the film's second part suffered with a "disjointed structure". Slant Magazine's review had a similar gist. Here Bill Weber wrote the film achieved "a few chuckles" with blunt jokes but the gags would become increasingly stale.

External links

• Mammuth at unifrance.org
• Mammuth at IMDb