The Snows of Kilimanjaro

About the film

The title is borrowed from Hemingway, but the film takes place, as is almost always the case with the great film-humanist, Guédigan, in the harbour neighbourhood, L'Estaque, in Marseilles. Michel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) is the shipyard manager, who has to fire twenty workers. To be democratic, he puts the names of all the employees into a hat, and draws the unlucky names, including his own. Michel thus has to prepare himself for a very early retirement, but he doesn't show any signs that this bothers him, at least not on the outside. Shortly afterwards, he celebrates his golden wedding anniversary at the shipyard. He and his wife, Marie-Claire (Ariane Ascaride), are given a trip to Kilimanjaro but, before they get very far with the planning and the trip, both their money and tickets get stolen. The thieves must have been at the wedding, but does one really feel like punishing one's own kind? 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro' won the Lux Prize from the European Parliament, for the best film of the year.