Review: Maya, Give Me a Title
by Marta Bałaga
- BERLINALE 2025: Michel Gondry plays with his daughter Maya, and the whole world is invited
Some say having children finally forces people to grow up – but not according to Michel Gondry. In his new film Maya, Give Me a Title [+see also:
trailer
interview: Michel Gondry
film profile], shown in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus strand, he asks his own daughter to do just that: give him a title for a new story and a new adventure. He will come up with the rest, no worries, one stop-motion wonder at a time.
Predictably, they are all insane. Gondry has an inimitable style and a wild sense of humour; it clearly can’t be modified, not even for a more child-friendly movie. His latest is like a bedtime story narrated by Pierre Niney at its calmest, but with enough wild elements to make sure nobody’s going to sleep just yet. There are horses cut in half – and yet which are perfectly fine with it – squirrels stealing hammocks and planes built out of, among other things, a drawer with socks hanging out. It’s a lot.
Then again, it always is a lot in Gondry’s unique world, and after a while, you don’t even notice the craziness. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was built around a very odd medical procedure erasing painful memories, but it’s still best remembered as a touching love story. Be Kind Rewind [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is a celebration of friendship, even though it has Jack Black covered in aluminium foil, remaking Ghostbusters. This one features an entire storyline about gigantic chips saving ketchup-covered seas, but it’s about family. About a father and a daughter who live in different countries and can’t see each other every day, so they find another way to communicate.
It works, but you can’t stop time. Maya is growing up (or getting smaller after an unfortunate pickling accident). She’s changing, and when she suddenly announces she’s done with their game, you feel her dad’s pain: “No more cartoons? What will I do with my life?” It’s the only time when Gondry puts himself first in one of these stories, roaming the streets, desperately offering his skills to perfect strangers. Luckily, the break doesn’t last very long – soon enough, Maya is back to being his main heroine. But you can’t help but realise it won’t last forever.
In 2013, Gondry made an animated doc about Noam Chomsky, Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and while Maya is described as his first animation, it feels like he’s always been a part of this universe. He allows himself to get personal, with his actual family making quite a few in-person appearances – at one point, Maya demands new stories from the camera, too. It’s very much their film, and their secret language, but it’s easy to imagine other fathers, and other Mayas, enjoying these tales and maybe later coming up with their own. Why wouldn’t they, if all you need is a title?
Maya, Give Me a Title was produced by France’s Partizan Films and is sold overseas by Indie Sales.
Photogallery 17/02/2025: Berlinale 2025 - Maya, Give Me a Title
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