In metahistorical New York city electrotechnician Lafayette deals with a megalomaniac director of a wax museum of ancient Rome, an italian lonely anarchist, a group of feminist actresses - including Angelica who falls in love with him - and a small adopted chimpanzee.
Acting
Depardieu and Mastroianni's exhausted masculine chemistry
Direction
Ferreri's grotesque humanism at its most indulgent
Production
The rotting wax museum as perfect metaphor factory

Director
Marco Ferreri
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ferreri shot this during his self-imposed NYC exile, channeling his own alienation into Lafayette's electrical-tape existence. The city itself becomes a wax museum of failed dreams.
The chimp was reportedly impossible to work with and bit multiple crew members, which somehow feels exactly on-theme for this film's controlled chaos.