Max mon amour (1986) - film review

Suspecting that his wife, Margaret, is having a secret love affair, Peter Jones, a British ambassador in Paris, engages a private detective to investigate.  The truth is more than he can bear: for the past year, his wife has been having an affair with a circus chimpanzee.  Not sure how to deal with the situation, Peter persuades Margaret to let the chimp stay with them in their chic Parisian apartment...

A brave attempt to explore the possibility of amorous love between different species, Max, mon amour just about manages to avoid being tacky or ridiculous, thanks mainly to a typically no-nonsense performance from Charlotte Rampling.  It was directed by the acclaimed Japanese film-maker Nagisa Oshima, marking a radical departure from the kind of films that have earned him his reputation.  Good taste and the possibility of severe censorship prevent anything involving bestial coupling from being shown on screen, and so the film can only really function as a satire on bourgeois life.  The absurdity of an implausible situation is unfortunately always in the foreground and is, alas, something which the lacklustre acting and somewhat bland comedy can scarcely conceal.  However, Rampling is impeccable and, as ever, gives great value for money.  The same cannot quite be said of the midget in the monkey suit...

© James Travers 2004

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