Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
IMDbPro

The Last Hammer Blow

Original title: Le dernier coup de marteau
  • 20142014
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
507
YOUR RATING
Clotilde Hesme, Grégory Gadebois, and Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
Drama
A 13-year old boy who lives with his single sick mom in a trailer near the beach, comes in contact with the father he never knew when the man performs as a conductor at the local music theat... Read allA 13-year old boy who lives with his single sick mom in a trailer near the beach, comes in contact with the father he never knew when the man performs as a conductor at the local music theater.A 13-year old boy who lives with his single sick mom in a trailer near the beach, comes in contact with the father he never knew when the man performs as a conductor at the local music theater.
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
507
YOUR RATING
    • Alix Delaporte
    • Alix Delaporte(original scenario)
    • Alain Le Henry(adaptation)
  • Stars
    • Romain Paul
    • Clotilde Hesme
    • Grégory Gadebois
    • Alix Delaporte
    • Alix Delaporte(original scenario)
    • Alain Le Henry(adaptation)
  • Stars
    • Romain Paul
    • Clotilde Hesme
    • Grégory Gadebois
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1User review
    • 34Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos31

    Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Grégory Gadebois and Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Clotilde Hesme and Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Clotilde Hesme and Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Clotilde Hesme and Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Grégory Gadebois in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Romain Paul
    Romain Paul
    • Victor
    Clotilde Hesme
    Clotilde Hesme
    • Nadia
    Grégory Gadebois
    Grégory Gadebois
    • Samuel Rovinski
    Candela Peña
    Candela Peña
    • Maria
    Tristán Ulloa
    Tristán Ulloa
    • Fabio
    Farida Rahouadj
    Farida Rahouadj
    • L'assistante de Rovinski
    Farid Bendali
    • Omar
    Mireia Vilapuig
    Mireia Vilapuig
    • Luna
    Víctor Sánchez
    • Miguel
    Maria Machado
    Maria Machado
    • La professeur d'harmonie
    Daniel Rossignol
    • Le premier violon solo
    Naïa Bousquet
    • La petite fille au piano
    Stéphane Varupenne
    • Le trombone
    • (as Stéphane Varupenne de la Comédie Française)
    Cédric Chatelain
    • Le hautbois
    Eric Chabot
    • Le professeur
    Ludivine Lanez
    • La cantatrice
    Marion Préïté
    • La serveuse
    • (as Marion Préïter)
    Habiba Heragmi
    • La visiteuse caravane
      • Alix Delaporte
      • Alix Delaporte(original scenario)
      • Alain Le Henry(adaptation)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Black Tide
    6.3
    Black Tide
    The Fury of a Patient Man
    6.7
    The Fury of a Patient Man
    A Perfect Man
    6.7
    A Perfect Man
    The Fall of the American Empire
    6.9
    The Fall of the American Empire
    Standing Tall
    6.9
    Standing Tall
    Money
    6.5
    Money
    Come What May
    6.7
    Come What May
    Angel & Tony
    6.6
    Angel & Tony
    Ein Teil von uns
    7.0
    Ein Teil von uns
    This Beautiful Fantastic
    6.9
    This Beautiful Fantastic
    Angel Face
    6.0
    Angel Face
    The Kindergarten Teacher
    6.7
    The Kindergarten Teacher

    Storyline

    Edit

    User reviews1

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    One of the most touching, heartfelt, and rewarding dramas of the year
    Alix Delaporte's ("Angel and Tony") The Last Hammer Blow is the story of 14-year Victor (Romain Paul, in an outstanding debut performance that earned him the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at the Venice Film Festival) who has to muster all of his inner strength to deal with three blows of fate that have been thrust upon him. The title of the film is derived from the finale of Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony written in 1903 which originally contained three loud drumbeats referred to as "hammer blows," the idea of fate knocking three times. According to the composer's wife Anna, it was the last of the three blows "which fells him as a tree is felled."

    After personal tragedy struck three times in 1907, Mahler removed the last of the hammer blows, leaving its inclusion optional for each conductor. Victor lives with his mother Nadia (Clotilde Hesme, "Le Souffleur de l'affair") in a trailer park close to the beach in Montpellier, France. She wears a wig due to her treatments for cancer and the boy shaves his head as a gesture of connection. He is also captain of his soccer team and is encouraged by his coach (Farid Benali) to prepare for tryouts for a higher level but is distracted by his mother's illness and his burgeoning interest in Luna, the teenage daughter (Mireia Vilapuig,Phoenix 11-23") of the Spanish neighbors whose son he is tutoring.

    Victor's burden takes on an even heavier aspect when his estranged father, Symphony conductor Samuel Rovinski (Grégory Badebois, "One of a Kind"), comes to town to conduct the Sixth Symphony of Gustav Mahler, designated as 'Tragic." Upset that his mother does not have the money to restore their trailer for the winter, Victor overcomes his fear of rejection and comes to the concert hall to find his father at rehearsals. Unfortunately, at their first meeting, Rovinski, a burly man with little social grace, is less than welcoming and tells him that he has no son.

    Although he agrees to give him 1,000 Euros, his mom refuses it, saying she does not want to have anything to do with him. Yet, the boy still goes back to the orchestra's rehearsals looking for some show of affection and caring from the father he has never known. As their relationship slowly begins to develop, one of the most affecting moments takes place during a pizza lunch. Conversation is awkward since his father knows nothing about soccer and Victor knows nothing about music, yet he shares a dream with his dad about a football match, and Samuel talks to him about classical music.

    Lending him two CDs with different interpretations of the Mahler work, he asks him to begin noticing what feelings and images come up for him. Through Victor's exposure to the music, he begins to get more in touch with his feelings and his ability to communicate them, and Samuel also grows in his appreciation of the Symphony. The Last Hammer Blow is a short film, just eighty-two-minutes long, and all the loose ends are not neatly tied together in a package, yet it does not hinder the impact of the film.

    The script, which Delaporte co-wrote with Alain Le Henry, contains all the elements for melodrama yet not only manages to avoid mawkishness but offers one of the most touching, heartfelt, and rewarding dramas of the year. Though it is not clear what each character really wants to happen, Delaporte does not force them in a particular direction, but seems to want them to determine their own path. "It's a film," she says, "about building one's own life without parents, or without part of the family, how to live alone and how to build a future." It is also about taking the small steps to growing up and learning to acknowledge yourself in the process – and smile.
    helpful•16
    4
    • howard.schumann
    • Oct 8, 2015

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 11, 2015 (France)
      • France
      • French
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • Montpellier, Hérault, France
    • Production companies
      • France 2 Cinéma
      • France Télévisions
      • Canal+
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 22 minutes
      • Color

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Clotilde Hesme, Grégory Gadebois, and Romain Paul in The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
    Top Gap
    By what name was The Last Hammer Blow (2014) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.