Hibernatus: what age is it for?
In France, zinema would say 8.
Alone, or with you
Alone from 8; from 7, with an adult or by talking about it afterwards.
What it's about
Hubert de Tartas' life becomes a complete muddle when his wife's grandfather is unearthed after having spent 65 years in frozen hibernation in the polar circle. After being de-frosted, the Hibernating Man believes it is still the beginning of the century. Nothing is spared to keep that illusion alive. At the end of his rope, Hubert blurts out the truth and takes the man from Edwardian times on a crazy spree through an ultramodern Twentieth Century.
Why 8
- Our readingA 1969 family comedy: sound effects, shouting and slamming doors, nothing that hurts; you laugh more than you jump.reading
- Loud slapstick, not real threatThe film runs on shouting, slamming doors, breaking glass and sudden bursts of noise, and a few moments land hard on the ears rather than on the heart. Younger viewers may jump once or twice, but nothing here is meant to frighten: the chaos is played for laughs.shown
- Scuffles and prop weaponsThere are tussles, a bit of pushing and shoving, and a gun or a knife turns up in the frame during the farce, including some noise in the opening minutes. It is all in the register of 1960s comedy: broad, harmless, and quickly resolved.shown
- Everyone smokes and drinksCigarettes are lit constantly and glasses of wine and other drinks are passed around, the way films of that era simply showed adult life. No one comments on it, so you may want to.shown
- A grown-up joke or twoKisses and a little romantic teasing between adults run through the story, plus some innuendo that will fly right over younger heads. Nothing is shown.shown
What the movie brings
- A gentle, very funny look at what happens when someone from another century lands in the middle of a modern household.
- It invites kids to notice how much daily life changes in sixty-five years: clothes, cars, manners, work.
- A comic lesson in the small lies families tell to protect someone, and how fast they snowball.
Watching it together
You might say beforehand that everyone in this film shouts and slams doors on purpose, because that is what made audiences laugh back then.
at 8 and up
If someone woke up today after sixty-five years asleep, what would surprise them most about our house?
See the facts
A zinema reading from September 8, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made