Odd, absurdist and bold French comedy directed by Japanese film-maker Nagisa Oshima. The British diplomat of France believes his wife is having an affair. He finds out she rented out an apartment, visiting it couple hours a day. So he heads there to confront her and to his surprise it's not with another man, nor woman, but actually a chimpanzee she bought from a zoo. Dumbfounded, yet curious he invites his wife to let the chimpanzee Max come live with the family as he's willing to make it work.
There's something rather perverse and uneasy to it all, yet strangely it feels light-hearted in its mentality favouring playfulness and deadpan humor. Never does the film question hard what we are seeing, letting the concept evolve without an ounce of ridicule in its delivery. Characters do at one stage question, is the living arrangements fair and wouldn't the monkey miss the open spaces? But that's trumped by the power of love. Tolerance is presented, especially when it came to love and how it can be felt than just something psychical. Who's one to question love? Love is more than just skin deep and what we see is that their bond is mutual from first sight when her husband pays a hooker (double price) to entice the monkey while he would watch in an attempt to comprehend what is happening with his wife behind closed doors. Probably would've had more impact if kept serious across the board, but you can see why they went down this route. What was interesting is in how they went about the relationship between husband and wife. His growing fascination in how she can share this connection with a monkey and vice versa brings out all kinds of complications (like the uncomfortable affection shown at the dinner table in front of bug-eyed house guests), emotions and she really does lay it down on the line in the film's final heartfelt monologue. Charlotte Rampling was quite good in an understated performance and I noticed when the end credits started rolling that make-up artist Rick Baker had some involvement in the monkey costume and it shows.
There's something rather perverse and uneasy to it all, yet strangely it feels light-hearted in its mentality favouring playfulness and deadpan humor. Never does the film question hard what we are seeing, letting the concept evolve without an ounce of ridicule in its delivery. Characters do at one stage question, is the living arrangements fair and wouldn't the monkey miss the open spaces? But that's trumped by the power of love. Tolerance is presented, especially when it came to love and how it can be felt than just something psychical. Who's one to question love? Love is more than just skin deep and what we see is that their bond is mutual from first sight when her husband pays a hooker (double price) to entice the monkey while he would watch in an attempt to comprehend what is happening with his wife behind closed doors. Probably would've had more impact if kept serious across the board, but you can see why they went down this route. What was interesting is in how they went about the relationship between husband and wife. His growing fascination in how she can share this connection with a monkey and vice versa brings out all kinds of complications (like the uncomfortable affection shown at the dinner table in front of bug-eyed house guests), emotions and she really does lay it down on the line in the film's final heartfelt monologue. Charlotte Rampling was quite good in an understated performance and I noticed when the end credits started rolling that make-up artist Rick Baker had some involvement in the monkey costume and it shows.