"Mammuth" has the distressed, gritty look of a 1970s movie. (It was shot on Super 16 reversal film.) But it takes its cues from some of the less-appealing aspects of that era's freewheeling style, in particular a sort of curdled whimsy.

Too limp and scattershot to warrant anything stronger than indifference...

Depardieu makes the most of it. Because of him, such surreal Gallic scuzziness has rarely seemed so sweetly tender.

Cynical and sentimental by turns, Mammuth takes a ride on the wild side, but well within speed limits.