Roberto Dellamore (Geffrey Uwawah) arrives in the big city. He gets a job as a pizza delivery driver which doesn’t work out. He then tries his hand as a street musician but again he fails. He resorts to pick pocketing with some mixed results. He then becomes a victim of a pick pocket. He then sees Maria (Christiana Christophe) and is immediately smitten.
Two weeks later, he reluctantly participates in a museum theft. While trying to escape he falls from a bridge, dies, and eventually comes face to face with the grim reaper (Josselin Robichon). The grim reaper is there to take Roberto to hell. Roberto tells him he has the wrong person and that his name is Antonio Mortadella. The grim reaper apologizes for the misunderstanding and the inconvenience. Roberto asks to be returned to Earth. The grim reaper says that he doesn’t have the ability to do that but there is one who may be able to help. The journey though, is long and difficult. Death takes him to the "Eternal Management Office".
At the “Eternal Management Office” Roberto talks to a clerk (Pierre Donne) to see if he can get himself out of the situation and be resurrected. He finds out from the clerk that if his wait is more than 666 days, he is entitled to one more day on Earth. Roberto had been waiting two years. Roberto is returned to Earth hoping to find his lost love, however, it has been two years since his death and Maria has moved on.
“Mortadella” was released in 2024 and was created and directed by Christian Szczerba. It is a mostly black and white French romantic comedy fantasy with a touch of cosmic horror. The beginning of the film is basically silent, but any dialogue is in French. An English sub-titled version of the film can be found on Christian’s YouTube channel “Moon Prod”. Christian is a home-grown creator, well, home-grown from France. The budget for the film is estimated to be seven hundred USD.
I’ve reviewed several of Christian’s short films and had been looking forward to viewing his first full-length film. There are a lot of noir influences and some interesting surreal imagery woven throughout the film as well as some humorous elements. His short films are filled with surrealistic horror. Here he has many of his signature elements but takes it further to incorporate humor and romance.
The sequences taking place in the afterlife were the best for me. They show off Christian’s imagination and Lovecraftian influence. Although the film has some shortcomings, the overall effect is stunning when you realize that this is the work of a young man just getting started. My favorite scene is when, in the afterlife, the big hand coming out of the sky and the director’s note to use your imagination and pretend it is chasing Roberto. Parts of the film can be a little confusing when it moves from present day to the various flashback scenes. The present-day scenes are in color. His depiction of the grim reaper is both scary and hysterical.
In the real-world mortadella is a sort of bologna based Italian sausage. In Christian Szczerba’s world it is the name of an Italian restaurant that Roberto takes Maria to as well as the alias that Roberto takes to fool death.