The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011 film)
| The Snows of Kilimanjaro | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Robert Guédiguian |
| Produced by | Robert Guédiguian |
| Screenplay by | Robert Guédiguian Jean-Louis Milesi |
| Based on | the poem "Les Pauvres Gens" by Victor Hugo |
| Starring |
Ariane Ascaride Jean-Pierre Darroussin Gérard Meylan |
| Cinematography | Pierre Milon |
| Edited by | Bernard Sasia |
| Distributed by | Diaphana Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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107 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | €4.2 million |
| Box office | $4.2 million |
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (French: Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro) is a 2011 French drama film directed by Robert Guédiguian. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It won the audience award and the Silver Spike at the Valladolid International Film Festival.
Michel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), lives happily with Marie-Claire (Ariane Ascaride), his wife of nearly 30 years. A dedicated CGT (General Confederation of Labour) trade unionist, he is charged with calling out the names in a draw in the shipyard to select who will be among the 20 workers to be made redundant. Though he did not need to place his own name in the bin, he did so and it is drawn, and so he loses his job along with the 19 others.
His fellow workers and his family organize a party for his 30th wedding anniversary and present them with travel money and a ticket to Tanzania to visit Mount Kilimanjaro, singing the 1960s hit song Kilimandjaro. Raoul (Gérard Meylan), Michel's brother-in-law, workmate and fellow trade union official presents him with a treasured but long-lost comic book from Michel's childhood, which Raoul says he found in a secondhand bookshop.
Before they leave for their holiday, Michel and Marie-Claire are brutally robbed while at home playing cards with Raoul, and Raoul's wife, Denise (Marilyne Canto). Michel is injured in the brutal attack and Denise becomes seriously disturbed from the trauma. One of the two robbers takes the comic book.
Michel is on a bus when he sees two children reading the comic book stolen from him in the robbery. Following them, he recognises their older brother Christophe (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) as one of his fellow redundant workers. He identifies Christophe to the police and watches his arrest. Gradually, Michel and Marie-Claire discover that Christophe is caring for his two younger brothers, neglected for years by their mother. Michel has second thoughts and wants to withdraw his accusation, but to no avail as the case cannot be withdrawn. In the spirit of his hero, the French socialist leader Jean Jaurès, he decides to try to help the two younger brothers, only to discover that Marie-Claire has beaten him to it and is already secretly taking care of the children. They realise that it is their shared ideals that bind their relationship and, after hard arguments with their own, grown-up, children and with Raoul, they take the two boys into their home to look after them while their brother serves a long sentence. Raoul admits that he didn't find the comic book in a secondhand bookshop at all, but had stolen it from Michel when they were children.
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