Storyline Serge Pilardosse has just turned 60 and is about to retire from his job in a slaughterhouse. He has always worked from the age of sixteen, never been on sick leave. So, how will this man fill his days? He does not like reading; doing odd jobs about the house is not his cup of tea; shopping is not his passion ... To make matters worse, his wife Catherine, who still works in a supermarket, notices that her husband will not get full retirement benefits since some of his former employers failed to do the requisite paperwork. So off goes Serge, riding his old Munch "Mammut" bike, in search of the missing documents ...
Writers: Benoît Delépine, Gustave de Kervern
Cast: Gérard Depardieu
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Serge Pilardosse, dit Mammuth
Yolande Moreau
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Catherine Pilardosse
Isabelle Adjani
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L'amour perdu de Serge
Miss Ming
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Solange Pilardosse la niéce
Benoît Poelvoorde
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Le concurrent
Bouli Lanners
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Le recruteur
Catherine Hosmalin
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La copine de Catherine
Blutch
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L'employé de la caisse de retraite
Philippe Nahon
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Le directeur á l'hospice
Anna Mouglalis
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La fausse handicapée
Albert Delpy
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Pierre le cousin
Bruno Lochet
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Le client au restaurant
Rémy Roubakha
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L'autre client du restaurant
Joseph Dahan
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Le troisléme client du restaurant
Gustave de Kervern
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L'employé charcuterle
(as Gustave Kervern)
This movie is a road movie in the France of small people, done by an
atypical guy on an atypical bike (would you figure that the antique
Munch Mammuth that Gérard Depardieu is shown riding is priced around
$100.000?)
As Depardieu is making his trip to the places where he used to live and
work, so that he can get the paperwork he needs to retire, we meet a
number of comic situations, that often reveal the absurdity of our
modern world (see the scene where Yolande Moreau fights against an
automated voice phone service). Miss Ming character also gives us some
nice touches of craziness.
Besides the comic situations, there is a more serious tone. The movie
shows us the rigidity of the retirement system, from which a number of
people are excluded, as they are anyway excluded from the whole
economical system. A few moments in the movie also make us feel how
getting old can be a wrecking for these people.
So there is both fun and sensibility there, and Gérard Depardieu is
good at conveying both. This is his best role for a great while and it
proves that he stills has something to give.
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