IN BRIEF: Disturbing yet confusing vision of mental illness that is one part psychological study and one part horror film.
JIM'S REVIEW: (RECOMMENDED) Beware of those religious fanatics, those extremists who share the words of God as a weapon to conquer all non-believers. The title character in Rose Glass' gripping and unsettling directorial debut, Saint Maud, is a recent convert to Catholicism, a hospice nurse tending to a new patient and more worried about her soul than her physical well-being.
After a harrowing hospital experience with a dying patient, Kate (Morfydd Clark) seeks spiritual refuse and renames herself Maud. Wanting to start anew, Maud becomes a private care nurse and is assigned to Amanda (Jennifer Ehle) a terminally ill cancer patient living in an English seaside town who happens to be an atheist. A sermon approaches, especially after Maud sees Carol, a constant visitor of Amanda, whom provides sex for a price. One day, Amanda goes too far showing her atheist tendencies and unwisely mocks her religious fervor at a party, calling Maud "my savior". But Maud will have none of that skepticism. God will guide her and both will forgive and save Amanda too. The fight for salvation is on!
Part psychological thriller and part horror film, we see the story solely from Maud's demented point of view. Lights flicker as she has seizures while speaking to God. A crucifix falling becomes a tell-tale omen to her. She views Amanda's lesbianism which she spied upon as a "sinful" acts in her mind. Tensions mount. However, there is no sense of reality on display and accuracy is at a minimum as nurse takes over the role of protector. Through most of the film, the surreal and off-kilter images, while powerful, still place the moviegoer at a confusing crossroads of what is real and what isn't.
As they bond together, the film has an ominous feeling of dread. Writer/ Director Ms. Glass builds the suspense most effectively. She relies heavily on voiceover narration to explain Maud's thoughts and behavior as a means of clarification, but that is not always successful in her storytelling.
Both actresses are excellent. They create very well defined characters. Ms. Clark downplays the showy title role and blends the role of victim and predator very adroitly. Her character's madness is convincingly realized. Ms. Ehle shows the bitterness of a dying and vein woman with the utmost subtlety.
For the most part, this psychological thriller becomes a finely-drawn character study and a disturbing portrait about mental illness. But in the film's third act, it becomes obvious that Maud has slipped further into madness for everyone, including the audience, to witness. This is when the movie goes full bonkers into the horror genre and overindulges in its gore and scare tactics. The overwrought atonal music does not help matters as it pulsates, booms, and bellows too eerily, becoming a clichéd distraction that one continually hears in many standard horror films. It all leads to a shocking conclusion, one that may not satisfy many moviegoers.
Conceptually similar to the fire and brimstone antics of Hereditary, The Witch, Midsommer, or First Reformed, Saint Maud (the movie) is bi-polar too. While I enjoyed the well-handled psychological thriller aspects of the film, the demonic horror trappings were run-of-the mill cheap thrills, unbecoming of the talented Ms. Glass. Religion may be a double edged sword and Saint Maud cuts very deeply. Too bad it overplays its hand and eventually falls victim to its own excesses. (GRADE: B-)
JIM'S REVIEW: (RECOMMENDED) Beware of those religious fanatics, those extremists who share the words of God as a weapon to conquer all non-believers. The title character in Rose Glass' gripping and unsettling directorial debut, Saint Maud, is a recent convert to Catholicism, a hospice nurse tending to a new patient and more worried about her soul than her physical well-being.
After a harrowing hospital experience with a dying patient, Kate (Morfydd Clark) seeks spiritual refuse and renames herself Maud. Wanting to start anew, Maud becomes a private care nurse and is assigned to Amanda (Jennifer Ehle) a terminally ill cancer patient living in an English seaside town who happens to be an atheist. A sermon approaches, especially after Maud sees Carol, a constant visitor of Amanda, whom provides sex for a price. One day, Amanda goes too far showing her atheist tendencies and unwisely mocks her religious fervor at a party, calling Maud "my savior". But Maud will have none of that skepticism. God will guide her and both will forgive and save Amanda too. The fight for salvation is on!
Part psychological thriller and part horror film, we see the story solely from Maud's demented point of view. Lights flicker as she has seizures while speaking to God. A crucifix falling becomes a tell-tale omen to her. She views Amanda's lesbianism which she spied upon as a "sinful" acts in her mind. Tensions mount. However, there is no sense of reality on display and accuracy is at a minimum as nurse takes over the role of protector. Through most of the film, the surreal and off-kilter images, while powerful, still place the moviegoer at a confusing crossroads of what is real and what isn't.
As they bond together, the film has an ominous feeling of dread. Writer/ Director Ms. Glass builds the suspense most effectively. She relies heavily on voiceover narration to explain Maud's thoughts and behavior as a means of clarification, but that is not always successful in her storytelling.
Both actresses are excellent. They create very well defined characters. Ms. Clark downplays the showy title role and blends the role of victim and predator very adroitly. Her character's madness is convincingly realized. Ms. Ehle shows the bitterness of a dying and vein woman with the utmost subtlety.
For the most part, this psychological thriller becomes a finely-drawn character study and a disturbing portrait about mental illness. But in the film's third act, it becomes obvious that Maud has slipped further into madness for everyone, including the audience, to witness. This is when the movie goes full bonkers into the horror genre and overindulges in its gore and scare tactics. The overwrought atonal music does not help matters as it pulsates, booms, and bellows too eerily, becoming a clichéd distraction that one continually hears in many standard horror films. It all leads to a shocking conclusion, one that may not satisfy many moviegoers.
Conceptually similar to the fire and brimstone antics of Hereditary, The Witch, Midsommer, or First Reformed, Saint Maud (the movie) is bi-polar too. While I enjoyed the well-handled psychological thriller aspects of the film, the demonic horror trappings were run-of-the mill cheap thrills, unbecoming of the talented Ms. Glass. Religion may be a double edged sword and Saint Maud cuts very deeply. Too bad it overplays its hand and eventually falls victim to its own excesses. (GRADE: B-)