Review: ‘Saint Maud’
Anchored by a powerful, devastating performance from Morfydd Clark, ‘Saint Maud’ is a harrowing, unforgettable experience and a strong contender for best film of the year.
The human soul can be a fragile thing, in need of constant care and reassurance. We are essentially social creatures, constantly seeking human interaction and connection in a world that is increasingly becoming more and more isolated. This is especially true of people who are affected by traumatic events. An accident, an assault, a sudden illness – these are all experiences that can damage a person’s soul, causing feelings of distress and hopelessness to permeate throughout everything we do, staining all of our actions and interactions. Some people seek comfort within friends and family members in order to rid themselves of those feelings. Others attempt to find solace in professionals, finding it easier to open up to complete strangers instead of those closest to them. But what happens when a person doesn’t have access to any of that? When they are left to fend for themselves? Abandoned to their own devices?
This is the conundrum that the titular Maud (Morfydd Clark) of Rose Glass‘ ‘Saint Maud’ is faced with. Left reeling after a tragic accident that causes her to lose her job as a nurse at a local hospital, she suddenly finds herself extremely alone, shunned by her co-workers, friends and family members, and a system that has abandoned her in her dire time of need. Struggling to place the remaining pieces of her life back together, Maud throws herself into religion, desperately seeking to form a connection with a higher entity in lieu of any personal ones.
It is not uncommon for people who go through traumatic experiences to seek shelter in religion, organized or unorganized, especially when they have no support system in place to help them process it. But Maud takes it to an entirely new level, much like everything else she does throughout the course of the film, going days without speaking to people, content with the conversations she has in her head with an uncooperative entity she chooses to believe is God. This figure, mostly unseen and unheard, is practically Maud’s only anchor to the outside world; she has convinced herself that this ‘God’ has set a higher purpose for her and she will go to great lengths in order to make sure she fulfills it.
These delusions of grandeur eventually manifest themselves at her new job as a caretaker for terminally ill former dancer, Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). The charismatic, jaded and extremely non-religious Amanda is at death’s door, suffering from late-stage cancer that has claimed her liveliness, her hair and her ability to walk. “I suspect you’ll be seeing this one soon,” says Maud to ‘God’ in a wry, slightly comedic voiceover that does an exceptional job at making audiences sympathize with her. Voiceovers in film have always been a mixed bag, mostly used as clunky tools to provide exposition instead of trusting in the audience’s ability to come to their own conclusions. In ‘Saint Maud’, though, it is a creative technique that humanizes Maud and provides some much needed comic relief in a film filled to the brim with increasingly bleak and tense atmosphere.
Taking it upon herself to “save” Amanda’s soul before her impending death, Maud attempts to draw her in to her own religious beliefs, leading her in prayer sessions and filling her house with crosses in order to “protect” her. The bored and disillusioned Amanda plays along at first but she soon grows tired of Maud’s overbearing, obsessive presence, leading to a fiery showdown that culminates in devastating consequences for both.
Morfydd Clark is a revelation in what is surprisingly her first starring role, delivering a layered, powerful and heartbreaking portrayal of a young woman drowning in sorrow and struggles. ‘Saint Maud’ firmly rests on Clark’s shoulders – she is in every frame of it – and she proves that she is more than capable of carrying a film, turning in a devastating, soulful tightrope walk of a performance that will undoubtedly cement her status as one of the brightest new stars in the industry. The role of Maud is a heavy one, requiring the actress to go into deep, dark places, and she does so with gusto, completely throwing herself into the character and surfacing with what is simply the best performance of the year in the process.
It is important to note that the religion Maud inundates herself in is one purely of her own making. Much has been made about the film’s portrayal of Christianity, mostly from people who have only seen its slightly misleading US trailer, but Glass makes sure to avoid any direct commentary or criticism, handling it in a nuanced, careful and overall respectful manner. ‘Saint Maud’ also arrives at a time where nurses worldwide have been subjected to abuse and mistreatment from patients and higher-ups alike, leading to recent waves of discussion about what tools and resources can be provided in order to ensure their mental and physical well-being. Maud’s complete lack of support after her tragic incident from both co-workers and the institution she works for is glaring, and one can’t help but wonder how differently she might have processed her trauma if there was a system in place to help her overcome it.
Glass has named ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Repulsion’ as direct influences on ‘Saint Maud’ and it shows; this is a movie that wears its influences on its sleeve proudly and unabashedly. Instead of rehashing the same themes and visual cues of those films, though (like many other recent films have done), Glass instead filters them through a modern lens, more interested in exploring how its characters and situations would play out in today’s world. Maud’s loneliness and delusions are not unlike those of Travis Bickle’s but her feelings of desperation end up manifesting themselves in very different ways compared to how they are portrayed in ‘Taxi Driver’. Maud is looking for a sense of purpose and motivation, not glory or infamy, and she completely buries herself in her work, leaving very little time for herself or her interests. “Never waste your pain,” utters Maud to Amanda at one point during the film. It’s a stinging reminder of how this generation in particular constantly tries to turn every lemon they come across into lemonade, attempting to be productive in every avenue of their lives and suffering from burnout in the process.
Marking Glass’ directorial debut, ‘Saint Maud’ is gorgeously and painstakingly crafted, with Glass and editor Mark Towns taking advantage of every second of the film’s lean 84-minute runtime to paint a harrowing picture of unprocessed grief and loneliness. The score, composed by Adam Janota Bzowski, is absolutely sublime, perfectly mirroring Maud’s descent into madness with yearning, hopeful strings that sour into a sharp, brutal crescendo as the film progresses. Cinematographer Ben Fordesman also does an exceptional job at turning the film’s beachside location into a haunting portrait so cold, you can practically feel it in your bones. As Maud’s journey starts to get bleaker, so do the film’s tone and visuals, culminating in a devastating, harrowing ending that will be seared into audiences’ minds long after the credits roll.
Rating: 5/5
Saint Maud is now playing in theaters and will be released on Epix on February 12.