Review by
Ren Zelen
Directed by: Rose Glass
Starring: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Frazer, Lily
Knight, Turlough Convery
Recently, producer Jason Blum was quoted as saying, "There are not a lot of
female directors period, and even less who are inclined to do horror." It
wasn’t long before Blum had to backtrack on his statement when it was
pointed out to him how many female directors there were in horror, all of
which were eligible to create imaginative horror features.
Recently added to that group is Rose Glass, who has set her first
feature, Saint Maud, in the traditionally male-dominated horror genre and was named the winner
of the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award at a ceremony held at last
year's London Film Festival.
Chair of the jury, renowned director Danny Boyle, called the film "a
thrilling cinematic journey through madness, faith and death" and declared
Glass "an extraordinary talent and powerful storyteller with a singular
vision."
When describing Saint Maud, Glass said, "I didn't set out to solely make horror films, but I've always liked dark, messed-up films that are shocking and scary but make you feel something connects you to it. There's enough messed-up stuff in Saint Maud to keep die-hard horror fans satisfied, but it's as much a dark, complicated character study as it is a horror film." That is as good a description of her film as I could offer. Her film is far more complex and layered than a straightforward horror flick.
The film certainly opens with a horrific scene, as Maud (Morfydd Clark) is seen hunched in the corner of a room, hands covered in blood,
trembling at the sight of a female corpse dangling from a medical bed with
blood dripping down her long hair.
This flashback is not immediately explained, but we soon discover that the
image bears a striking resemblance to a photographed dance pose from the
terminally ill ex-dancer/choreographer Amanda Kohl (Jennifer Ehle),
who happens to be Maud’s next private patient.
[ READ MORE: New Release Review - Nitram ]
[ READ MORE: New Release Review - Nitram ]
It is revealed early on that Maud is a recent religious convert who
believes that God talks to her directly and has a special purpose for her
alone. It is while staring at the images of her dancer patient that Maud
deciphers God’s previously unclear plan. She asserts that she is destined to
save Amanda’s soul before it moves on to the afterlife.
Formerly adored and celebrated, in her final weeks Amanda has chosen to
isolate herself in an old mansion perched on a clifftop overlooking a
rundown seaside town. Curt and prickly but still displaying a caustic sense
of humour, Amanda surprisingly warms to her new young nurse, intrigued by
her naivety, her meticulous devotion to her work and her fervent religious
faith.
Amanda is vaguely amused by Maud’s belief in her divine purpose to save the
"lost soul" of her depressed, chain-smoking, hard-drinking, lesbian patient,
but also comments that a pretty young girl should loosen up and have some
fun in life. She decides to humour Maud in her convictions and plays along
when Maud’s beliefs create shuddering ecstasies when she apparently senses
God’s approval.
However, as Maud progresses in her mission she becomes increasingly determined (emptying the house of alcohol) and possessive, ultimately banning Amanda’s young lover Carol (Lily Frazer) from entering the house.
When Amanda celebrates a birthday by arranging a party and inviting all her
old hedonistic, bohemian friends and her lover Carol too, the disapproving
Maud begins to suspect she may have been led on.
This leads to an event that gets Maud fired, and once back alone in her
dismal flat, without a job and without a purpose, she spirals into a
gruelling crisis of faith, a dark night of the soul which sees her wandering
among the grimy fleshpots of the tawdry seaside town, sinking into
dissipation and mental torment.
[ READ MORE: First Look Review - The Forgiven ]
[ READ MORE: First Look Review - The Forgiven ]
What Amanda didn’t know when she felt sorry for her well-scrubbed, lonely
and innocent young carer, is that before her religious conversion, ‘Maud’
led an entirely different life as a different person, partly revealed in
encounters with Joy (Lily Knight), a former co-worker.
However, one night, Maud is assailed by another sign from God, and after
gut-churning acts of penance for her lapse, Maud formulates another plan to
save Amanda’s soul.
Director/writer Glass has fashioned a shocking yet fascinating film about
the madness that overcomes a vulnerable person when she gives herself over
to extreme religious fanaticism. Saint Maud makes intelligent
use of holy imagery and iconography, in particular the illustrations of
another (albeit unconventional) religious obsessive, William Blake, to help
us try to comprehend some of the aspects that fuel Maud’s compulsions.
Glass also elicits remarkable performances from Ehle as the free-living, body-loving ex-dancer Amanda, now stoically aware of her creeping immobility and impending demise, and an extraordinary turn from Welsh actress Clark, sensitively portraying Maud’s awestruck religious conviction, while not balking from the horror of her mental disintegration.
Glass also manages to capture the paucity of Maud’s grim ascetic life and
economically depressed environment, tellingly evoked by Paulina Rzeszowksa’s production design and Ben Fordesman’s camerawork, in a screenplay which punctuates the grey, everyday life of
a decaying town with the startling visions of religious ecstasy.
Saint Maud succeeds both as horror and as a moving
psychological study of a sensitive, lonely, troubled mind. Stunning,
powerful and constantly gripping, the film also startles us with a bold and
terrifying denouement. Saint Maud is a truly impressive,
confident debut feature - a daring yet compassionate examination of
psychology and religion, offering several layers of complexity dressed in
horror’s clothes.
Saint Maud is on Prime Video UK
now.