Max Mon Amour

One monkey, one woman, surely they couldn’t…?

Nagisa Oshima directs Cinémoi darling, Charlotte Rampling in a surrealist romcom that will bewitch, subvert and enrich your appreciation towards romance and indeed comedy.

When Margaret (Rampling), the French wife of a British diplomat, follows her husband and his reassignment back to France, she insists on one thing: Max, the chimpanzee she bought at the zoo, must come too.
What follows is a whirlwind romance of Shakespearean grandeur. Oshima shines with, surrealist master and frequent Bunuel collaborator, Jean-Claude Carrière’s tone-perfect script, presenting us with commonplace themes disguised in an utterly beguiling vessel.

Once the absurdity of the plot has quickly melted away, it affords Oshima the opportunity to peel back and examine an unconventional and tragic love triangle. The script’s reliance on suspending disbelief in order to evince the truth beneath major life issues continues to be echoed throughout contemporary efforts such as the sublime, Lars and The Real Girl.