Can somebody explain Maxine to me?

She's a sociopath with a taste for kinky sex and power lust.
Transgender girls with lust wowards her? Check.
Using somebody as a marionette? Check.
Implying she's into BSDM? Check.
Regular heterosexual or homosexual relationships? Oh nope, not even once.

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I too couldn't understand the Maxine character. In the starting, she is talking on the phone telling someone about Craig. I thought it was her spouse/partner. But then, that character on the phone never reappeared. It was depicted that she thinks Craig is a total looser, but she still agrees to meet him at the bar at 7 and for the dinner at his house. She couldn't differentiate who is in JM, but she tells Lotte that she saw her in JM.

For what she fell in love with Lotte (in just 2 scenes)? And still agreed to meet JM knowing that Craig is gonna be in there. And then agreed to marry Craig in JM (while still in love with Lotte).

Why did she lied to Lotte that the girl was hers when she clearly could not tell exactly when she got pregnant? And in the end, why she got ready to go with Lotte outside JM?

This Maxine character is a mess.

Maxines character would totally not be into lotte.

Lotte was a nerdy character with zero fashion sense.

Maxine was a social butterfly, fast taking. Fast actions.

I could never see these two together

I think she did by the time she was pregnant and soon figured out it wasn't about Malkovich like she thought it was but really about the person inside and it was Lottie who she loved. She only cared about Lottie in Malkovich but at the end she wanted Lottie without Malkovich.

I think Maxine came off as a heartless person at the start but gradually you can see her change especially around Lottie. She likes Lottie cause she's not pretending to be anyone but herself. You can see when she decides to go off with Malkovich/Craig that she's in two minds. The truth is people can change with their mistakes and time, she finds out Malkovich isn't making her happy and that Lottie was the one she wanted.

I think Maxine loves Lottie in the end.

In the spec script, the one that Kaufman originally wrote, she didn't love anybody. I don't quite know why they changed this. The end of the movie, where Maxine ends up with Lotte, is totally out of character for her. I'm going to choose to blame Spike Jonze 'cause the spec script is way better than the movie, IMO

In the spec script she is just as despicable as you would expect based on the early scenes

When Lotte sets herself free from the cage and calls Maxine, Max is not conflicted, she straight up tells Lotte that she doesn't actually love her and hangs up on her

Then she ends up with Craig for a while. That is, until he challenges the other puppeteer to a showcase and loses. Then she dumps him and that's the last we see of her

Lotte ends up marrying the chimpanzee. And Lester's cult actually worships the devil

It sounds ridiculous and kind of stupid, but it actually works much better than the film. There is no reason for Lotte and Maxine to end up together. It's not like there's any emotional through line throughout the story that makes this seem inevitable or satisfying. They don't share any particularly compelling scenes together

If you are familiar with Absurdist literature then the screenplay will make sense as a legit story, even if it is absurd, and not just a big joke. I can't actually enjoy the movie because I feel that it was a waste of an incredible screenplay