Mammuth

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It's an odd one. How many times have I typed that when reviewing a French art-house film? Mammuth is bizarre, delivered in a style that's trapped somewhere between David Lynch and Wes Anderson. But before Lynch and Anderson fans go dashing off to the cinema, it's Lynch by way of Anderson on an off day.

Serge (Depardieu) has just retired from working in a meat factory. As he loafs about the house, doing jigsaw puzzles, fixing door handles and generally getting under the feet of his wife (Moreau), Serge is told that he won't receive his pension until he gets the relevant documents from all his employers. Being a factotum, having worked every menial job you can think of since he left school at sixteen, Serge gets on his trusty titular motorbike and takes to the road to nail down those important files…

Shot on grainy 35mm (but looking like 16mm), Mammuth can be an ugly film to watch. Cheap and amateurish looking, in the middle of this ugliness directors de Kervern and Delepine find some arresting images (Serge's niece is a sculptor and has some odd art to show her uncle) and allow the beautiful person that is Serge to emerge. Serge isn't the smartest bear in the wood but his heart is as huge as his belly, and despite the unpleasant things that befall him on the road - his kindness is betrayed by a con artist (she does manage to leave an apologetic note, however) and vulgar security guards - he takes it all with a shrug. Although in nearly every scene, Depardieu is overshadowed by Moreau's Catherine who is such an oddity she deserves her own film.

De Kervern and Delepine aren't shy about throwing in a few gags to offset the depressing air surrounding the story and it's credit to their script that every joke they aim for is a dead hit. It's when they try to reach for some drama that Mammuth comes up short: Serge's visions of the ghost of an ex-girlfriend (Adjani), covered in blood from a bike accident, doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the film. Mammuth is unsure what it wants to say, and frustration and confusion reign as the closing credits roll.