Saint Maud Review

Saint Maud is one of the most praised films of 2020. It was a film that played at film festivals like Toronto and London and earned recognition from Danny Boyle.

Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a private hospice nurse and recent religious convert. Her most recent charge is Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a former dancer with a terminal illness. Maud grows close with Amanda to the point of obsession and Maud faith and mental health gets shaken during the course of the film.

Saint Maud has been classed a psychological horror film, but it was really an art-house character piece with horror elements. A24 brought the American distribution rights and this was the film that fits their outpoint. Some of their previous horror films include The VVitch, Hereditary, and Midsommar and they were films with an arty quality to them.

Saint Maud was Rose Glass’ debut film what she crafted was a deep think piece. I interpreted Saint Maud as a film about mental health. Maud was a woman who had suffered from a trauma during her previous job and had scars on her belly. Maud used her religious beliefs as a mask for her wider psychological issues. She gets obsessed, she self-harms as a penance, and God speaks to her. These were signs of paranoid schizophrenia. As the film progresses Maud has visions, and they could be seen as either divine messages or Maud losing her grip on reality.

Maud claimed to be religious, but her beliefs were a distortion of Catholicism. Her bedsit was covered in Catholic iconography, but she’s never seen going to church or meeting with a priest. Amanda gave Maud a book of William Blake’s art and Maud states that Blake was critical of organised religion. When Amanda asked Maud who her saint was Maud answered Mary Magdalene, with Amanda adding she didn’t know that there were necklaces for the saint. Maud has a relapse to old life during the second act and she ends up doing some unchristian things.

Maud has a bit of Annie Wilkes in her. Annie Wilkes was the main villain of Misery and in that book and film she was a former nurse with a dark past and obsessed with an author she was caring for. Maud too had a dark past, and was supposedly religious. In Maud’s case, she used to be a party girl, and when she met an old colleague it was revealed that Maud wasn’t her real name.

Glass clearly has a lot of talent as a filmmaker and surrounded herself with a talented cast and crew. Glass and her crew used every trick they could to build up tension and atmosphere. There were lots of insert shots of things like a kettle boiling and having droning noise building up. Maud’s descent into madness was shown in different ways like upside shots and the use of special effects – one of the most memorable images from the was when Maud levitates.

Morfydd Clark was an emerging actress and she’s set to play Galadriel in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series. Saint Maud was a great showcase for her talents, establishing when Maud was alone and her visions and zealotry inflict her.

Whilst Saint Maud does pack in a lot of ideas and themes in a short runtime and Glass, Clark, and the filmmaking team did get to show off their talents. However, the film was one that lacks mainstream appeal, and it will properly divide audiences.

Saint Maud is out on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Platform on 1st Feburary.