Max My Love (1986)

A married French woman takes a zoo chimp named Max to be her lover.

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima (as Nagisa Oshima)

Writers:

Nagisa Ôshima (scenario) (as Nagisa Oshima), Jean-Claude Carrière (scenario)

Stars:

Charlotte Rampling, Anthony Higgins, Victoria Abril

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlotte Rampling	...	Margaret Jones
Anthony Higgins	...	Peter Jones
Victoria Abril	...	Maria
Anne-Marie Besse	...	Suzanne
Nicole Calfan	...	Hélène
Pierre Étaix	...	Le détective / Detective
Bernard Haller	...	Robert
Sabine Haudepin	...	Françoise, la prostituée
Christopher Hovik	...	Nelson Jones
Fabrice Luchini	...	Nicolas
Diana Quick	...	Camille
Milena Vukotic	...	Margaret's Mother
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu	...	Archibald (as Bernard Pierre Donnadieu)
Thomas Austerweil
Bonnafet Tarbouriech	...	Le vétérinaire (as Pierre Bonnafet)

Storyline

Peter is a British diplomat in Paris. He is told by a detective that his wife, Margaret, has rented a flat where she spends quite a few hours monkeying around with a lover - a chimpanzee called Max. The relationship is serious, heartfelt, and sexual, so Peter invites the chimp to live with them.

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | female rear nudity | barefoot woman | breast | topless female nudity | 

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Taglines:

A Love Triangle of Primate Proportion.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some aberrant sexual content

Did You Know?

Trivia

Oshima originally intended there to be a scene where Max performs cunnilingus on Margaret, but ultimately decided it would be too risque for French cinema.

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Connections

Referenced in 45 Years (2015)

User Reviews

good squirmy fun

Interesting - an international co-production that results in a real creative fusion, not the usual mush. This movie pits deadpan surrealist aesthete Jean-Claude Carriere's script against tantrum-prone transgressor Oshima in the service of a narrative where Charlotte Rampling falls in love with a chimpanzee. In spite of the rampant in-your-face perversity, though, Carriere holds the balance of power - Oshima wouldn't have thrown in that climactic victory parade, and I doubt he could have pulled off such an informed spoof of the French bedroom comedy on his own. The bemused passivity of the husband can get a little cloying, but it's pretty remarkable how viscerally sensual the movie gets in the Rampling-chimp lovey sequences. And that goes double once you realize that it ain't no chimp - it's another Rick Baker masterpiece for ya, so that makes three auteurs.

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

French English

Release Date:

22 October 1986 (France)

Also Known As:

Max My Love

Filming Locations:

Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Serge Silberman, Greenwich Film Productions, Greenwich Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1