Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Mary and Max (2009)

play
Email a link to this page
To:
CC:
Subject:
Body:
clip
  • 1
  • 2
Mary shines but Max explodes

Original classification rating: PG. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

At her father’s grave, Mary (voiced by Toni Collette) looks at the little heart Max sent her, where it is written, ‘Love Yourself First’. She decides to take happiness into her life, marries her love Damien (Eric Bana), and writes of her joy to Max. Bursting with self-esteem, Mary shines at university. Determined to cure the world of mental illness, she writes her thesis on Asperger’s syndrome, using Max as her case study. Mary sends a dedicated copy to Max (voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman), with a promise of half the royalties and a visit to New York. Deeply hurt, Max takes to his typewriter. The narrator of this clip is Barry Humphries.

Curator’s notes

In this clip we see the warm connection between Mary and Max and the ever-turning wheel of fortune. It introduces a turning point in the film: Max’s dramatic reaction on receiving Mary’s book, of which he is the subject. In the following scene, Max lists his emotions in a fury: hurt, betrayal, ‘confuzzlement’ – confusion and puzzlement. Absorbed in her work, Mary is blind to the feelings of both her penpal and her husband.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer Mary shines but Max explodes from the feature film Mary and Max as a high quality video download.

To play the downloadable video, you need QuickTime 7.0, VLC, or similar.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before downloading the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

This clip is available in the following configurations:

File nameSizeQualitySuitability
marymax2_pr.mp4 Large: 22.1MB High Optimised for full-screen display on a fast computer.
marymax2_bb.mp4 Medium: 10.4MB Medium Can be displayed full screen. Also suitable for video iPods.

Right-click on the links above to download video files to your computer.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer this clip in an embeddable format for personal or non-commercial educational use in full form on your own website or your own blog.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before embedding the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

Copy and paste the following code into your own web page to embed this clip: