Saint Maud (2019)

Follows a pious nurse who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.

Director:

Rose Glass

Writer:

Rose Glass

Stars:

Jennifer Ehle, Morfydd Clark, Lily Frazer

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jennifer Ehle	...	Amanda
Morfydd Clark	...	Maud
Lily Frazer	...	Carol
Turlough Convery	...	Christian
Linda E Greenwood	...	Passerby on beach
Lily Knight	...	Joy
Noa Bodner	...	Hilary
Marcus Hutton	...	Richard
Faith Edwards	...	Agency Woman 2
Carl Prekopp	...	Homeless Pat
Rosie Sansom	...	Ester
Susanne Schraps	...	Amandas Friend
Jel Djelal	...	Barman
Fiona Thompson	...	Nurse
Jonathan Milshaw	...	Handsome Man

Storyline

There, but for the grace of God, goes Maud, a reclusive young nurse whose impressionable demeanor causes her to pursue a pious path of Christian devotion after an obscure trauma. Now charged with the hospice care of Amanda, a retired dancer ravaged by cancer, Maud's fervent faith quickly inspires an obsessive conviction that she must save her ward's soul from eternal damnation - whatever the cost. Making her feature film debut, writer-director Rose Glass cannily lures the audience into this disturbed psyche, steadily setting up her veritable diary of a country nurse for an unnerving and ultimately shocking trajectory. Morfydd Clark (also at the Festival in The Personal History of David Copperfield) portrays the sanctimonious Maud with an intense stoicism that belies a disquieting vulnerability, as Maud desperately vies for absolution and solidarity from her embittered patient (an enthralling Jennifer Ehle, also at the Festival in Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies). Glass tenderly ...

---

Plot Keywords:

female lead role | toronto international film festival | 

---

Genres:

Horror

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing and violent content, sexual content and language

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Welsh

Release Date:

1 May 2020 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Escape Plan Productions, Film4, BFI Film Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Rose Glass, won the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award for this, which was presented to her by Danny Boyle.

User Reviews

Spell-binding; female driven thriller in male dominated genre

"Tis better to be that which we destroy," claimed Macbeth "than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy." A young Christian hospice nurse, Maud, struggles with this notion when she is charged with taking care of cancer stricken Amanda. The pair are opposites save for arrogance and self-righteousness. "Nothing worth trying comes easy" is Maud's mantra, yet she gains little traction with Amanda. In doubt, desperation and loneliness, Maud doubles down on her distorted beliefs and spirals out of control.

This tense and spell-binding film employs compelling techniques including pulse quickening ambient sound, funnel clouds that mirror Maud's disordered state of mind, sideways and upside-down camerawork to portray drunken delirium and more. A female perspective in this male-dominated genre is refreshing and fascinating. Morfydd Clark (Maud) and Jennifer Ehle (Amanda) are fantastic in their portrayals. An intriguing bit of information was revealed in the question and answer session after the film's shocking conclusion; Morfydd is Welsh and when she appears to speak in tongues, she is actually speaking Welsh that is slowed down enough to be almost unrecognizable. The production crew was careful not to dwell in one location so the setting might appear to be anywhere. Seen at the Toronto international film festival.