Saint Maud
classified 15 PSPlease note: This was screened in Nov 2020
A pious nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving her dying patient’s soul in British writer-director Rose Glass’s superb debut; a darkly humorous, insidiously creepy, gothic-tinged psychological horror that has won rave reviews following its screenings at Toronto and the BFI London Film Festival.
Having recently found God, self-effacing young nurse Maud (Morfydd Clark) is untiring in her spiritual devotion. Landing a job as a full-time carer, she arrives at the plush home of Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a dancer frail from chronic illness. While they couldn’t be more different – Amanda’s taste for excess is the antithesis of Maud’s pious values – the mismatched pair slowly build a brittle bond of co-dependency. But when a chance encounter with a former colleague hints to a dark past, it becomes clear there is more to Maud than meets the eye…
Wickedly playful, Glass’s thrilling film is by turns funny, chilling and breathtakingly sad and consistently upends audience expectations. The two leads enjoy a palpable chemistry, with Ehle’s beautifully nuanced performance the perfect foil to Clark’s star-making turn as the saintly, yet unsaintly Maud.