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When Marnie Was There Listed on BBFC Site
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The British ratings board the BBFC has given Studio Ghibli's When Marnie Was There a 'U' Certificate, describing it as containing 'very mild threat, scenes of emotional distress.' A more detailed description can be seen by scrolling down and clicking the 'down' arrow on the right, but this has some spoilers for the story.
GKIDS, the North American distributor for When Marnie Was There, describes the film:
Sent from her foster home in the city one summer to a sleepy town by the sea in Hokkaido, Anna dreams her days away among the marshes. She believes she's outside the invisible magic circle to which most people belong – and shuts herself off from everyone around her, wearing her “ordinary face.” Anna never expected to meet a friend like Marnie, who does not judge Anna for being just what she is. But no sooner has Anna learned the loveliness of friendship than she begins to wonder about her newfound friend...
When Marnie Was There adapts Joan G. Robinson's English children's novel of the same name. In his second film, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi (2010's The Secret World of Arrietty) shifted the setting from Norfolk in the book to a Japanese village on the shores of Hokkaido. Yonebayashi wrote the screenplay with Keiko Niwa (The Secret World of Arrietty) and Masashi Ando (A Letter to Momo, Spirited Away and Paprika). Ando also handled the character designs and animation direction. Takatsugu Muramatsu composed the film's soundtrack.
The film premiered in Japan in July 2014, and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar on January 14.
