When Marnie Was There

Anna Sasaki is an introverted 12-year-old girl with low self-esteem living in Sapporo with foster parents, Yoriko and her husband. One day, she suffers an asthma attack at school. The doctor insists that her asthma is being triggered by stress. At the doctor's recommendation to send Anna to a place where the air is clean, her parents decide to have her spend summer break with Yoriko's relatives, Setsu and Kiyomasa Oiwa, who live in a rural seaside town called Kissakibetsu, located between Kushiro and Nemuro.

Anna investigates an abandoned mansion across a salt marsh. She finds it familiar but gets trapped by the rising tide until she is found by Toichi, an old fisherman. Setsu tells her that the mansion used to be a vacation home for wealthy foreigners, but has been empty for a long time. Anna starts dreaming of a blonde girl in the mansion. On the night of the Tanabata festival, she meets the blonde girl, Marnie, at the mansion. The two agree to keep their meetings secret. Marnie asks about how Anna likes living with the Oiwas but disappears. Anna has visions of being back in the Oiwa house, implying that Anna is dreaming. Marnie invites Anna to a party at the mansion, where she sees Marnie dancing with a boy named Kazuhiko. Locals find Anna asleep outside, suggesting that the party may also have been a dream. The mansion also appears abandoned and dilapidated again.

Anna meets Hisako, an older woman who paints. Hisako comments that Anna's sketches look like a girl whom she knew when she was young. Not soon after a family is set to move into the mansion. At the mansion during the move-in, Anna meets a girl named Sayaka, who gives her Marnie's diary that had been hidden in a drawer. Anna meets Marnie again and admits to finding documents that show her foster parents are paid to take care of her. She makes the assumption that they only pretend to love her for the money, and says she can’t forgive her biological family for leaving her behind and dying. Marnie shares how her parents are always traveling abroad, and how she is always left behind with her rude nanny and two maids. The maids bully her and threaten to lock her in the silo near the mansion. Anna leads Marnie to the silo to confront the latter’s fear of it. Marnie conquers her fear and the pair fall asleep. Anna has a dream of Kazuhiko comforting Marnie. She wakes up, only to find Marnie gone, and is heartbroken.

Meanwhile, Sayaka finds the missing pages from Marnie's diary, which include passages about Kazuhiko and the silo. She and her brother search for Anna, only to find her unconscious with a high fever. They bring her back to the Oiwas, where Anna dreams about confronting Marnie, who tells Anna she is sorry for leaving her and that she cannot see Anna anymore.

When Anna recovers from her fever, Hisako reveals Marnie's story: Marnie married Kazuhiko and they had a daughter named Emily, who Marnie loved dearly due to years of loneliness and depression. Kazuhiko died from a sudden illness and Marnie committed herself to a sanatorium to cope with her loss. With no other family to care for her, Emily was sent to a boarding school at a young age. Marnie recovered but preteen Emily was resentful for her mother abandoning her. In her adulthood, Emily had a daughter herself, but she and her husband were killed in a car accident. Marnie raised her granddaughter, who was placed in foster care after her death.

At the end of the summer, Yoriko arrives to take Anna home and is delighted to see Anna having made new friends in Hisako, Toichi and Sayaka. She gives Anna a photograph of the mansion and says it belonged to Anna's grandmother. When Anna sees Marnie's name written on the back, she realizes that she is Emily's daughter, and Marnie's granddaughter. This revelation brings closure about her identity. Yoriko also tells Anna about the government payments, but reassures her that they have always loved her. For the first time Anna calls Yoriko her mother.

During the end credits, Anna says goodbye to her friends before seeing Marnie at the mansion window waving goodbye to her.

The original novel by Joan G. Robinson had previously been cited by Hayao Miyazaki as one of his favorite children's novels.[8] Hiromasa Yonebayashi was assigned the project by Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, who asked him to change the setting of the story to Japan. Yonebayashi found the story moving, but he "thought it would be very difficult to visualize as a film," and initially turned down the role. His interest was later renewed, however, and he began to conceive of new elements for the story, such as Anna's characterization as an artist.[9] Although the setting was changed, the decision was made to retain Marnie's appearance as blonde and blue-eyed, though Miyazaki was opposed to this decision. He later criticized the usage of Marnie's character to promote the film, opining that it was "plain outdated and cheesy."[10]

Yonebayashi intended the film to be encouraging to children in Japan who felt lonely and isolated, and hoped that "when they see Marnie, maybe they could take a little step forward".[9] Key focus was placed upon highly detailed character movements and backgrounds, as well as depicting the details of Anna's experience in the environment.[11][12] The Marsh House that is central to the story was designed by Yohei Taneda, who Yonebayashi asked "to draw the Marsh House as if it were another character who watches over Anna." Taneda scouted buildings in Hokkaido for inspiration.[13]

When Marnie Was There Soundtrack Music Collection, known as Omoide no Marnie Santora Ongaku Shuu (思い出のマーニーサントラ音楽集) in Japan, is a two-disc soundtrack and image song album that was released on CD in Japan and in 113 countries worldwide (including Japan) as a digital download on the iTunes Store on 16 July 2014.[17] The first "Image Song" disc features music composed to express the personality of the characters and feel of places in the film. The second disc features all the background music for the film. Priscilla Ahn, the writer and performer of the movie's theme song, "Fine on the Outside", also released an accompanying album to the film called Just Know That I Love You on 16 July 2014.

When Marnie Was There was released in Japan on July 19, 2014. On 14 January, GKIDS announced that they would be distributing the film for a North American release on May 22, 2015.[18] The film premièred at the New York International Children's Film Festival on 27 February 2015.[19] The film had its UK premiere during the BFI London Film Festival on 10 October 2015 with a wider release scheduled for 10 June 2016.[20]

The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan by Walt Disney Studios Japan on 18 March 2015,[21] and released on Blu-ray and DVD in America by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on October 6, 2015.[22]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to When Marnie Was There.

• Official website
• Official website (in Japanese)
• When Marnie Was There (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• When Marnie Was There at IMDb
• When Marnie Was There at Rotten Tomatoes