(2001) A wacky-weird screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry.

Two white lab mice in the woods are being pursued by a crow who clunks into a tree below which lies the dead body of Dr Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins), who had been training the mice in his lab to use table manners (the proper fork for eating salad) before they were released. Occasionally speaking to us, Nathan's spirit now and forever resides in a white room, not unlike the cage in which he kept Puff (Rhys Ifans), an apelike man (kidnapped as an infant and raised in the wild) who killed him.

Lila (Patricia Arquette) is in prison, having taken blame for the shooting, while Puff testifies before Congress. Nathan and Lila discovered Puff in the woods while on a nature hike. Lila - who at first stripped naked and chased after the apeman - since the age of puberty began to grow copious body hair everywhere; when she was 20 she realized, "I'm so sure of the blessing [of hair], I don't need dressing," and took to living au natural, earning a living as a nature writer (publishing a popular book, Fuck Humanity).

However, by the age of 30 she became horny, in need of a man. Returning to civilization, getting electrolysis treatments from Louise and a date through Louise's brother (a shrink with Nathan as a client), Lila meets Nathan the psychologist.

At first Nathan is overjoyed to have a girlfriend and with their discovery of Puff, a subject he can train to become a civilized human being, which will make him famous and wealthy. At first Lila is delight to have a mate (though one with an inferior penis), but she feels apprehensive about taking a creature "uncontaminated by civilization" and having him locked inside a Lucite cage with an electric-shock collar.

After Nathan sees Lila in the bathroom covered with shaving cream depilating herself, he turns to his French assistant Gabrielle (Miranda Otto), who is more than willing to copulate with him in the lab at night in front of Puff. Watching them, Puff experiences an epiphany, deciding to perform whatever tasks are required of him in order to get some of that for himself.

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Copyright © 2007 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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