Max is Italian. Sicilian, to be precise. He earns his living as a hairdresser in Brussels, but his flourishing business goes bankrupt when he gets hairdresser’s eczema overnight. The customers stay away, he is deserted by his wife and comes into conflict with the law. At the police station he meets Bobo. Or rather, the heavyweight Bobo meets him. Bobo asks Max to give him all his money, but when Max refuses resolutely, Bobo sees him as a very hard nut. That is just about all Max isn’t. He wants to be left alone and tries to resume his own life. But it isn’t easy. When he was well, he was never willing to help anyone and his acquaintances haven’t forgotten that. And then it turns out that Bobo, who spent his whole youth in homes and foster families and was never welcome anywhere, is the only one who cares about Max. Bobo may not be very clever, but he could be Max’s salvation. Together they think about how they could get themselves some money: robbing a jeweller seems like a good idea to Bobo.Max & Bobo is the feature début of Frédéric Fonteyne. Aided by wonderful acting by his protagonists who manage to give their roles a surprising profundity, he reveals himself – especially in the editing – to be a master in finding a balance between humorous and dramatic elements. Max & Bobo was the audience favourite at the Mannheim-Heidelberg festival.
