Mary and Max

'Mary and Max' is a 2009 Australian clay-animated feature film directed and written by Adam Elliot and produced by Melanie Coombs. The film is beautifully narrated by Barry Humphries. He has a soothing, Stephen Fry sort of feel, as though telling a story to a child but for adults.

The film deals with multiple themes including childhood neglect, bullying, loneliness, Asperger's Syndrome, over-eating, depression and anxiety. It is Wallace and Gromit meets Alan Bennett.

'Mary and Max' is reportedly loosely based on a true story. In an interview given in April 2009, writer-director Elliot clarified that the character of Max was inspired by "a pen-friend in New York who I've been writing to for over twenty years."

It is a simple tale taking place over the course of twenty years and spanning two continents. The film follows the relationship of pen pals Mary, an eight year old child from the outskirts of Melbourne in Australia, and Max, a forty four year old Jewish man with Aspergers who lives alone in New York. Through their pen-friend relationship, Elliot explores the film's central themes of loneliness, mental illness, love and friendship with humour and pathos in equal measure. It is subtly observed - poignant, sweet, innocent, funny and slightly depressing - a film full of home-spun wisdom.

This is visually a film of astonishing naive beauty. Like all animation, much of the joy comes from the unexpected detail. It is evocative of a child's eye looking into a treasured museum piece doll's house, marvelling at the attention to trivia and catching sight of a tiny toilet roll holder.

Aesthetically the film is deceptively child-like; visually and narratively it seems like any children's story but the content is adult, the depth and breadth of the topics covered are for the thinking adult.

I loved this film and felt that it was a philosophical tale that just happened to involve a man with Aspergers rather than being exploitative.