Review of Mammuth (2010) by Anthony M — 20 Apr 2013

After ten years of faithful service to a slaughterhouse, Serge(Gerard Depardieu) is given a party and a jigsaw puzzle by his co-workers. Retirement does not end up agreeing with him or his wife Catherine(Yolande Moreau) who ends up hating him loafing around the house and her demotion to the fish counter. Salvation for the former comes from a surprising direction when it turns out Serge will have to get affidavits for every odd job he has performed in order to get his full pension.

Given the movie's plot, it should come as no surprise that the story is on the episodic side. "Mammuth" takes that to extremes by almost appearing to resemble Serge's 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle at times. Even then, it does not provide all the pieces, including one scene that is 3/4 totally wrong. The picture that we do get involves a man whose life was thrown sideways early in life, as he continues to be haunted by Isabelle Adjani.(Notice how some people have all the luck.) But sadly the movie wants to apply that notion to all minimum wage employees who struggle through life through no fault of their own.