THE anarchic black comedies of Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine are distinctively French in their quirkiness, but joyously universal in their wit and humour.

After their surreal gender-bending revenge film Louise-Michel, the pair follow up with another torch to the oppressed working classes, telling the story of abattoir worker Serge (Gerard Depardieu), who sets off on his motorcycle on a mission to retrieve the paperwork from past employers which would make him eligible for a retirement payout.

However, with most of the records long ago consigned to the rubbish bin, our bumbling hero’s quest proves to be nigh impossible.

Undeterred, continues the road trip into his past, haunted by the ghost of his first love and making a detour to visit his barmy niece, whose penchant for writing poetry in her menstrual blood and constructing sculptures out of plastic dolls has left her completely unemployable.

Depardieu delivers a touching, tender and funny performance – by far his best for a good while – and portrays the character as a French Mr Bean.

Yolande Moreau also provides strong support as Serge’s unsympathetic wife.

Consistently surreal, it’s initially hard to settle into, but with plenty of comic invention, laugh-out-loud and, in one scene where Serge rekindles his childhood friendship with his cousin, gasp-out-loud moments, you’ll be too busy giggling at the absurdity of it all to bother scratching your head for too long.

Mammuth (15) is released in central London cinemas today.