Movie: Saint Maud
Production Companies: Film4, British Film Institute, Escape Plan Productions
Director: Rose Glass
Producers: Andrea Cornwall, Oliver Kassman
Scriptwriters: Rose Glass
Main Cast: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Elhe
Release Date: October 9th 2020 (UK)
Running Time: 89 minutes
Certificate: 15
Introduction
God damn (Pun not intended) For the benefit of those who haven’t seen Rose Glass’s feature film debut, Saint Maud, it is fantastic. Saint Maud manages to innovate in a massively saturated genre through its editing, performances and religious theme. It also helps that Morfydd Clark’s performance is fantastic as she brings the overly religious Maud to life with unsettling ease. Also, this film gets very dark in terms of content even for a horror/thriller film. So, without further ado here is my review of the film.
Synopsis
Maud meets Amanda
The film opens with a nurse called Katie failing to save a patient in her care despite attempting CPR. Some time later, Katie (now called Maud) is working as a private palliative care nurse in an English seaside town. Maud (Clark) is a devout Roman Catholic. She is assigned to take care of Amanda (Elhe), a retired dancer with stage 4 lymphoma.
Because of her diagnosis, Amanda is embittered by her fate and she also reveals to Maud she fears death. This leads Maud to believe she is God’s way of saving Amanda’s soul. Even more shockingly, Maud reveals to Amanda she feels God’s presence when she prays. This seems to work as Amanda and Maud are joyous with ecstasy when they pray together. Surely, she couldn’t be faking it….
Maud’s control slips away
Maud soon becomes suspicious of Amanda’s companion Carol, who visits regularly and is being paid by Amanda for sex. Desperate to save Amanda’s soul, Maud implores Carol to stop visiting her. Why? She is ‘corrupting’ Amanda’s soul due to the homosexuality and prostitution. I’m sure that’ll work… In fact it works so well as Carol attends Amanda’s birthday party anyway. In front of the partygoers, Amanda informs them that Maud is trying to drive Carol away to save her soul. After mocking her for trying to save her soul, Maud strikes her and gets dismissed. Who could have seen that coming?
Maud’s descent
Maud then believes God has rejected her so naturally goes to the pub to find companionship. Unfortunately, she is rejected by most of the people there. However, she still ends up going home with a man and during sex, she suffers flashbacks to her patient dying. But because this film wasn’t dark enough, the man then rapes her and taunts her about her hedonistic past with one of his friends as she leaves.
Awaiting a sign from God
As she is walking, Maud meets Amanda’s new nurse who seems to enjoy a good relationship with her. So naturally she storms off. In her rundown apartment, Maud begs for a sign from God who appears to her and tells her to be ready for an act to prove her faith. Maud then interprets a vortex in the clouds as the sign from God.
Maud ‘saves’ Amanda’s soul
That same night, Maud (dressed in a makeshift robe and wearing rosary beads) enters Amanda’s house after her care nurse leaves. She then finds Amanda in bed, weakened. Amanda then asks for forgiveness for mocking her faith and Maud reminds her of the time they felt God’s presence together. However, swerve! Amanda reveals she was faking it and tells Maud God isn’t real. She then launches her across the room with her demonic strength, wait what? So, in a delirious state Maud stabs Amanda to death. Well, that escalated quickly…
Maud’s ‘ascent’
The next morning, Maud walks to the beach and douses herself in acetone before horrified onlookers. She utters her last words in Welsh, Glory to God, as she self-immolates. In her last moments, angel wings appear behind her as the onlookers drop to their knees in awe as she looks up to the sky glowing with grace. The scene then reverts to reality briefly, revealing a burning Maud in agony.
Analysis
Cinematography in Saint Maud
Right, for the first part of my analysis of Saint Maud I’m going to discuss the cinematography and how it reflects Maud’s character. The best example of this is unfortunately after Maud leaves her rapist’s house as the following shot is horizontal. Why is this? It could be Rose Glass showing how Maud’s mental state has deteriorated after being dismissed and mocked by Amanda for her faith. Or it could just be a really cool Dutch cant angle to mess with the audience. Who’s to say?
Also, another prime example of this is the ending where Maud believes she is ascending to heaven. This is going to get quite nasty as evidenced by the split second shot of Maud’s burning flesh. While it may look straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it could also be symbolic of how Maud’s devotion to religion has driven her too far because she needs to believe that God is there. Man, I love this film.
Religion and Obsession in Saint Maud
The next part of my analysis of Saint Maud is how it handles religion and religious obsession. As mentioned in the synopsis, after one of her patients dies Maud becomes a devout Roman Catholic determined to save souls. In this case, Amanda. While the film’s portrayal of religion initially focuses on how it gives people something to believe in and hope, that changes by the time Maud kills Amanda. By that point, Saint Maud is showing how religion can change people into fanatics because of how much they want to believe God is instructing them.
Also, sidenote nice touch from Rose Glass having God speak in Latin. This point is reinforced when Amanda taunts Maud for needing to prove her faith, which works out well for her. Overall, Saint Maud draws a line between religion: one side is it gives people hope and belief. The other side is how it can lead people down dangerous and fanatic paths. Damn, that got deep.
The Score in Saint Maud and how it affects the audience
For the final part of my Saint Maud analysis, I’m going to discuss the score and how it affects the audience. Firstly, it’s a very minimalist score by Adam Janota Bzowski. But therein lies the brilliance of the score. So many horror films rely on grand scores, here’s looking at you Conjuring franchise, yet Saint Maud only relies on one or two key songs. This means Rose Glass can build a sinister and disturbing film through its lack of a score. However, when that refrain (repeated use of a song) hits, it works so well. Take the scene of Maud walking along the seafront. Sidenote, that was filmed in Scarborough. That particular scene emphasises how Maud now feels like the world is against her.
She was dismissed from her job, she has no companionship, she was rejected by Amanda but most importantly she feels abandoned by God. That is reflected in the score which booms over the scene, effectively drowning out any voices surrounding Maud thus reinforcing her isolation from society. Another key scene where the lack of score enhances the scene is the one where Maud walks down the seafront. Doesn’t sound too bad. Until you realise this is the scene after she steps onto pins. I did say this film gets brutal… The lack of a score works disturbingly well as you can hear the pins shift in and out of Maud’s foot, thus reinforcing the horror of what she has done to herself. Man, that got dark quickly.
Summary
To summarise Saint Maud, a brutal, at points violent, psychological thriller debut film which manages to straggle the line between indy/arthouse cinema and mainstream horror cinema disturbingly well. So, for any horror fans looking for something different Saint Maud could be the film for you and it’s available on Amazon Prime.
Overall Rating: 8/10 – Very Good
Target Audience: 15+
Content Warning: Mild alcohol and drug references, moderate profanity, severe violence and gore, moderate sex and nudity
Recommendation: Yes
