Hibernatus

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

7.1K

YOUR RATING

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Farce High-Concept Comedy Slapstick Time Travel Comedy Fantasy Sci-Fi

A rich businessman faces a quite weird problem - his wife's grandfather has been revived thanks to science. But he is not aware that many decades have passed.A rich businessman faces a quite weird problem - his wife's grandfather has been revived thanks to science. But he is not aware that many decades have passed.A rich businessman faces a quite weird problem - his wife's grandfather has been revived thanks to science. But he is not aware that many decades have passed.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

7.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

User reviews12

6.67K

Featured reviews

4leplatypus

Same origin as modern Captain America (DVD)

De Funes movies have filled my childhood and "Hibernatus" didn't leave me a good memory. At the time, I couldn't stand the doctor (Londsale) and the "hibernatus". In addition, i felt stuck in the big old furnished mansion.

Today, I find it rather enjoyable. The "hibernatus" really appears during the second half of the movie and the interview of the actor 30 years later available on the bonus helps soften his character. Moreover, De Funes steals the show as always and has the genius to turn "bad" guys into memorable characters.

As I underlined in other reviews, a truly good comedy surprises you at each viewing because you can't remember all the funny moments. This is also the case here.

In comparison with today movies, its short length (80 min) is appreciable because it's fast paced and has no time out.

7Galina_movie_fan

When the comedies were really funny...

Arctic expedition finds the frozen body of Paul Fournier in Greenland. He stayed in eternal cold for sixty five years and was brought to life in 1970. He is taken care by the family of his descendants and he believes that it is still 1905 and he had a riding accident after which he had developed some memory problems. By his doctor's request, to spare him the shock of waking up, the house he stays in and the streets surrounded it are redecorated to look like in the beginning of the 20th century. He does not know that the woman he believes his mother is his granddaughter and her polite but slightly hyper fiancée (De Funes) has been her husband for over twenty years. The movie belongs to Luis De Funes as all his comedies do. I'd like to name just a few - the trilogy of Fantômas movies where De Funes was energetic, bubbling with the mad ideas, clumsy and hilarious Commissar Juve; "La Grande vadrouille" (1966) where he shared the screen with another French legend, Bourvil, and "Oscar" (1967) which he simply stole with his performance. During his long career De Funes learned how to make every viewer in the audience laugh not just laugh but almost die from laughing. While watching "Hibernatus" again after many years, I almost fall from the couch my husband and our friends had more fun watching me than the movie.

7SMK-4

Pleasant little comedy

This is a neat little comedy about a man who has survived in a frozen state for more than half a century. When he wakes up (not having aged at all) all his surroundings have been adapted to make him believe he is still living in his own time. Of course, this charade cannot be maintained for very long.

This is a pleasant little comedy, giving people a nice excuse to wear colourful old-fashioned clothes, without necessarily behaving the way the clothes and the decor would indicate. The film has its weaknesses, in particular it is difficult to see why the scientists go through all the trouble. Worse, Olivier de Funes (who plays it straight) lacks the required charisma to carry the film, and we don't get quite enough action from his famous father.

nicholas.rhodes

One of the Funniest De Funès Films

Louis de Funès was one of the funniest French comic actors and none of those on the scene today can even compare with him. Many of his films made in the 1960's and 70's are evergreens of French comedy and remain popular even today. Hibernatus is one of the best, together with Rabbi Jacob, La Grande Vadrouille and Le Corniaud (The Sucker). The script lively, the film only 78 mins long and Claude Gensac as his long standing "ma biche !" is magnificent. The film is basically about De Funes's wife's grandfather who is found frozen in the ice and comes back to life with his family in 1969 ! All surroundings are made to look oldy-worldy so that he may think he is still in 1905. All this gives rise to some comic situations where De Funès has to disguise himself first as the grandfather's father, and then as suitor to his mother. Without going any more into the detail of the plot one can say that it is highly amusing and entertaining. It has recently been issued on DVD in France with very good picture quality and French Subtitles, together with several other famous de Funès comedies, such as La Folie des Grandeurs, Oscar, L'Homme Orchestre ..............

7michelerealini

Nice comedy

For the second time director Edouard Molinaro and French comic star Louis De Funès worked together, after "Oscar" (1967).

In 1969 a group of scientists discover a frozen body, which belongs to a young man of 1900. This man still lives and after many adventures his custody is granted to his family (Louis De Funès and his wife, who is...the granddaughter of the man!). For avoiding him the big shock of living at the end of the Sixties, all his family dress and behave as if they were at the beginning of the century!

The comedy shows again the qualities of De Funès, who was unique with grimaces and nervous tics. The French actor was like a clown, many children and adults adored him.

"Hibernatus" is a nice movie, although a little too pretentious -De Funès made better films-. The story is a bit absurd, but the picture is still watchable for his leading actor.

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Trivia
Original source: "Hibernatus", comedy by Jean-Bernard Luc which opened on 26-1-1957 at the Théâtre de l'Athénée, starring Pierre Mondy.

Quotes
Hubert de Tartas: You believe yourself to be in 1900, eh? Well no! You are in 1970! Poof! And the North Pole? Does that mean anything to you, the North Pole? The North Pole! You've been frozen for sixty-five years in a block of ice and we only just found you intact two months ago!
Edmée de Tartas: Hubert!
Hubert de Tartas: [Hubert to Edmée] Shut up!
[Hubert to Paul]
Hubert de Tartas: You are not twenty-five, you are ninety! Ninety! And you are the grandfather of your mother, that is to say, of my wife, and her name is not Clementine, her name is Edmée! Edmée! Her name is Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Her name is Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Oh, I have things to- Hey! That's not all! That's not all!
[Hubert to the people on the balcony]
Hubert de Tartas: And you, get the hell out of here! So, at the North Pole, you never had a horse accident!
Paul Fournier: No?
Hubert de Tartas: Never! You were shipwrecked! And in the face of death, you were stuffed with whiskey and fell into glycerin. So all that was left to do was to find some ice cream...
Paul Fournier: For the whiskey?
Hubert de Tartas: No! It is thanks to the ice, the whiskey, and the glycerin that you are still with us.
Paul Fournier: Oh good.
Hubert de Tartas: Do not interrupt to say "Oh good!", "Oh yes!", "Blah blah blah"!
[Hubert to the people on the balcony]
Hubert de Tartas: No! Get out of here! Get out of here or I'll kill you!
[Hubert to Paul]
Hubert de Tartas: No! Don't look up there! Look here! Things happened in sixty-five years! Things happened! Things happened! The War of '14! Poof! The War of '40! Poof! The Maxixe, the Mazurka, over! Everything works with electricity! Even guitars work with electricity and all that! How are you? Huh? Are things going well? Hee hee hee hee hee hee! So, tell me- No, look here! Airplanes, how fast do you think they can fly? Come on!
Paul Fournier: They can fly forty?
Hubert de Tartas: My poor little- Two thousand eight hundred kilometers an hour! They have the shape of a cigar and
[Hubert makes the noise of an airplane flying]
Hubert de Tartas: ! Twice the speed of sound! You arrive in New York before you've left Paris! Because of time difference of course!
Paul Fournier: Of course.
Hubert de Tartas: Of course! So what do you think of that?
Paul Fournier: That must use a lot of oil.
Hubert de Tartas: Oil, that's all over! Now it's kerosene! We're waiting for atomic fuel! We're going to get atomic fuel! The atom, the neutrons,
[Hubert makes a sound to represent neutrons spinning]
Hubert de Tartas: . And now, we're going to the moon! We're going to the moon in an insect!
Paul Fournier: An insect?
Hubert de Tartas: Oh yes, an insect module!
[Hubert makes a sound to represent a motor]
Hubert de Tartas: An insect module! Men go crazy! Go crazy! Men go crazy!
[Hubert hums a strange melody]
Hubert de Tartas: Men go crazy! Men go crazy! And I feel like I'm going crazy! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée! Edmée!
Edmée de Tartas: Hubert!
Hubert de Tartas: I told him everything!