Max Wants a Divorce (1917)
Directed by Max Linder

Film Review

Max Wants a Divorce was the second of three short films that Max Linder made for the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, in the expectation of making a name for himself in America.  George K. Spoor, the president of the Essanay, had gambled that Linder would prove as big a hit in the United States as he had in Europe, thereby filling the hole left by the departure of Charlie Chaplin.  It was not to be: the first two of Linder's films were critical and commercial failures, the third (Max and his Taxi) was only a moderate success. 

Max Wants a Divorce may lack the slick artistry of Linder's previous French films (Max victime du quinquina, Max entre deux feux) but it has some deliriously funny moments: the cat fight that ensues when Max tells his wife he wants to divorce her; the accumulation of eccentrics in the psychiatrist's back room; and the totally crazy denouement in which Max, his mistress, his wife and her private detective all end up being filed into the psychiatrist's study by men in white coats. 

In front of the camera, Linder is as elegant and funny as ever, but it his work behind the camera that is more interesting.  By this stage, Linder had become a fully fledged film director and Max Wants a Divorce is peppered with some surprising artistic flourishes, such as the scene in which Max and his wife are silhouetted against a window and vow their undying love for one another, as a piece of Chinese shadow theatre.  If only Essanay had given Linder longer to establish himself, he may well have ended up one of the foremost talents in Hollywood, a serious rival to Chaplin, Keaton and the rest. The pressures of working in a foreign country brought on a bout of ill health that forced Linder to return to France. He would be back in America a few years later to direct and star in some of his best films, Seven Years Bad Luck (1921) and The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922).

Film Synopsis

Max has only just got married when he receives a message notifying him that he stands to inherit three million dollars, on condition that he is a bachelor.  Max immediately decides to get a divorce, much to the chagrin of his devoted wife.  Having placated his wife, by offering to buy her a pearl necklace, Max sets about trying to find a makeshift mistress, to provide grounds for a divorce, and a private detective to witness the infidelity.  The stage is set.  Max arranges to meet his mistress in a rented room, with his wife masquerading as a housemaid.  Next door, a well-known psychiatrist is receiving a stream of visits from eccentrics, whom he bundles into a back room.  The private detective turns up at the agreed hour, but mistakes the address and enters the psychiatrist's room.  Meanwhile, Max's attempts at intimacy with his mistress are thwarted by his jealous wife, who once again starts throwing the furniture at him.  Disturbed by this noise, the psychiatrist instructs his assistants to bring the people next door into his room and, convinced they are all mad, he puts them with the others.  When he finally gets back home, Max receives another letter telling him that the first message was in error.  He wil only inherit his fortune if he is not a bachelor, so all's well that ends well...