Mary and Max

"Sometimes perfect strangers make the best of friends."

2009 1h 32m EN

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 2,348

AnimationComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.

“Sometimes perfect strangers make the best of friends.”

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Cast

Toni Collette
Mary (voice)
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Max (voice)
Barry Humphries
Narrator (voice)
Eric Bana
Damien (voice)
Bethany Whitmore
Young Mary (voice)
Renée Geyer
Vera Lorraine Dinkle (voice)
Ian 'Molly' Meldrum
Homeless Man (voice)
John Flaus
Harvey Krumpet / Ken / Len Hislop (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Adam Elliot
Writers: Adam Elliot
Languages: English, Yiddish
Countries: Australia

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 21% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Yiddish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

200+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Directed by Adam Elliot, shot by Gerald Thompson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dale Cornelius. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bill Murphy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Humphries carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Adam Elliot directs. Gerald Thompson behind the camera. Dale Cornelius scores. Bill Murphy cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Australia. Dialogue in English, Yiddish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 21% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 17 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Yiddish.
4200+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Adam Elliot, shot by Gerald Thompson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Dale Cornelius. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Bill Murphy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Humphries carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Sometimes perfect strangers make the best of friends.".
10IMDB entry: tt0978762 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 21 themes, including "australia", "chocolate", "suicide attempt", "approach".
12Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Gerald Thompson
Original score: Dale Cornelius
Editing: Bill Murphy
Production design: Adam Elliot
Sound: Laurent Boudaud
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,240,000
Box office: $1,740,429
Return: 21% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Mary and Max (2009)

Awards

Annecy Cristal for a Feature Film
Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Animated Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Adam Elliot

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Asa_movies2017-04-03
★ 10/10
Mary and Max- Am I sad or happy? Am I philosopher? It's hard to understand weird people. Oh, actually, I'm weird. It's hard to understand normal people. I've been depressed for a great deal of time. Not depressed like: ”oh, I'm not feeling okay now. But everything is okay”. It's something like: “I'm feeling very bad, and sad; probably I'm considered as I am freak. But I consider others as being freaks. I'm not depressed because of weirdness – it's because of life, as it is”. Uncertainly, I'm both Mary and Max. The first – my state of mind. Unbearable pressure in head, which I almost can't put literally vertical on my head. It's pretty hard, considering it's mass. I feel like an invisible ghost pushes my head and makes my eyes falling down. Teeth and jaw are stiff. I'm going to sleep. It's the most comfortable way to make reality become unreal and relaxing. I'm crying when the story of the sense of life is being said. I'm smiling when there are people around me. It's a spontaneous reaction. Probably because I'm Max in my mind, Mary in my soul. People probably wrongly understand depression; or more precisely – they have no idea how actually it functions for real, in mind of attached person. They think they are mad, or they're pretending something wrong is happening- “depression is nothing serious”. I'm Mary: I'm ready to finish my living, to kill myself, to die in the full coldness of the life. There is no good person in the world, there is no sense of life, there is no hapinnes in the world, there is nothing funny to do. But I won't do this. Medicines are really useful. They're changing our brain. I want to be in a closed room, I don't want to eat, I hardly ever sleep, but I'm tired. My willing is just to make me being physically smaller, to become a dot in a nowhere and to forget about everything. I have headaches. I almost haven't eaten anything for a couple a days, I'm sad, unsuccessful, bad in every possible way. There is no meaningless of living. We've been born. We're going to dye. We're nothing. I'm isolated, obsessed with horrible thoughts, (horrible from my point of view). These thoughts are as normal as they could be. I'm right but nobody understands me. Acting happiness and smiling and funny person makes me feeling even worse after a while. The first thing I'm going to do is to push walls around me, to make me feel pain, to be alone and to do nothing – because, there is nothing to do. The only one friend I believed in disappointed me. Nobody cares. The next state is that I would try to be “normal”. I'm buying stupid cosmetics instead of going to travel. I'm talking to people, doing this as they do. Pretending being cool and perfect. Funny. Communicative. Everything went bad because it's not me. Go ahead! Now, I'm Max: Einstein said there were only two infinite things: cosmos and one's stupidity. I agree with him. I am different, I'm maybe even smart, I'm trying to understand the world. Maybe others are, too. Different, and also triers. I like chocolate, I don't have friends, there is no justice in the world. Anxiety and changing mood are no so simple things. Feeling are unpredictable, emotions are strong. Emotions are strong but undefined. I gave up. My psychiatrist is giving me instructions how to act in real life. “This is good, this is bad, in this situation you have to cry, in this to laugh, in this to imitate some nerd.” I was even using small notebook where I wrote “acting explanations”. I met Mary, but who cares. I'm used to living on my own. There is no friend. I am distanced form everyday life, like there is invisible barrier between me and others. It makes me being special; but obviously not in a good way. We're now good friends. She is the best one for me; but also the only one. Oh, there are more freaks here. Haha. Impossible. She understands my needs, my mind, my reactions, my way of viewing stuff. The second – don't worry. Robots are walking down the streets. Everyone is the same as the others. They define themselves as normal guys. Just define, don't worry. You can define them as you want The left person is copy of the right one. Everyone is the same. Everyone has striped hair, blue narrow jeans, the equal brains, the equal opinion. It's easier acting like they are acting. Just go down the street, listen to the others, turn off your mind, point of view the world and your charm. Just be like others. Be stupid. Be robot. I'm starting to believe Einstein. This is not myth he's very smart. But also you need to be good. Brave, beautiful, funny, intelligent, popular,...(just kidding) ;) Be who you are, and help humanity. And believe there are also people worth respecting, because they are not robots. You just have to find them. Also they'll find you. They exist. Look bright, go straight. We're here and we can't run out of it. Imagine our life is one adventure we are lucky to have chance to play in. You're not a weirdo. Just go on, enjoy the adventure, be yourself, even when you have to be pathetic as I am now. :) After that, sense of life will come to you; you don't have to search so much! Just relax ;) Let the game begin! Written by Mary and Max, December 2016, for goodness of the world

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