Saint Maud film review. God goes to Scarborough and speaks Welsh.
Religion on film can fill the screen with big biblical epics from the Technicolor age like the Ten Commandments (1953). Down to the TV epics like Jesus of Nazareth (1977). On the other side you have Paul Belmondo as the kind of cool Leon Morin, Priest (1961). Then the stern stuff, Bergmans Winter Light (1963). Then at the more hysterical end, Von Triers Breaking the Waves (1996). Enter Saint Maud played brilliantly by Morfydd Clark, where to put this film? or does it occupy a category of its own? I think it does, it absorbs influences and thanks to a brilliant performance from Morfydd Clark and director Rose Glass excellently keeping all the elements together the result is a memorable film. It connects to other films, horror, The Exorcist (1973) but more to Breaking the Waves for its religious tendency. Maud played by Morfydd Clark is the best thing to hit the English seaside since Emily Lloyd screamed ‘Up your bum’ in Wish you were Here’ (1987). No such rebellious antics from Maud, she wears her brand of evangelic Christianity on her face, in the way she walks, as if on a mission with her mode of verbal delivery, direct and unsparing.
When we see Maud first in the films blood-soaked opening scene, it is clear something has gone terribly wrong at a hospital. She could be to blame; this could have triggered her religious mania but that’s her past. Her present is on the mean streets of Scarborough where she lands a job as live-in nurse to Amanda played by Jennifer Ehle, drama queen dancer, choreographer, and someone who once had a minor public profile. Her house is Gothically placed at the top of a hill overlooking the stormy seas of Scarborough. Inside that house, death is close, Amanda is dying of cancer. In manner, dress, beliefs these two are opposites. You know what they say about opposites, they attract. The film does play with that, an attraction maybe present but is never realised. This is a carer patient relationship of great intensity which is all on Maud’s side. She believes her role is not that of a care giver but a saviour on a mission from God. Meanwhile, Amanda, suffering from cancer, drugs, and alcohol numb the pain produces a more freewheeling spirit. To Mauds displeasure Amanda has troupes of her theatrical friends over to cheer her up. We can assume one such guest is a call girl there to pleasure Amanda. This catches Mauds eye either in disgust or arousal as she peers into the bedroom, lingering I think to long for it to be disgust. You just do not know with Maud, one minute she is talking to God the next she is down the pub pulling of the first bloke she can find.
Director, Rose Glass has spoken about the influence the Scorsese, Paul Schrader film Taxi Driver (1976). Maud and Travis Bickle would make an interesting pairing. What they have in common is the inner dialogue they have in their heads. Are they talking to themselves or God? We see Maud close-up, in the house on a Godly mission and on the streets of Scarborough. There is something memorable seeing Maud walk the rain swept seafront of Scarborough. She walks the streets with purpose and when a nurse who she knew stops her it’s like the moment has been punctured and she is back to reality. Back at the house, her caring for Amanda grows more intense to the point where she is sacked. If she ever goes back, there could be blood. We started with blood and the film could end with it, but Saint Maud has a surprise at the end. Is what we are seeing in those final frame’s reality? Maud’s reality? The film like a game gives you two endings, you choose but you will scarcely see a better seaside scene as what is shown at the end of Saint Mauds
