Movie Review: Saint Maud (2021)

Saint Maud (2021) written and directed by Rose Glass

Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a young nurse who has switched out of hospital work and has been doing palliative care for a couple of months. Her latest patient, Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), is an American dancer and choreographer who lives in an isolated house above an English seaside town. Amanda is slowly dying. Maud recently had a "religious" experience and is now devoted to God and wants desperately to do His will. She feels that she has come to help Amanda have a deep and meaningful relationship with God too. The situation starts out okay.

Things do not stay okay. Amanda is bemused by Maud and finds some connection at first. As their relationship deepens, the differences between them become more apparent and more abrasive. Maud has a very checkered past that is slowly revealed as the movie goes on. Sure, there's an opening sequence that hints at something horrible but it is unclear whether the viewer is getting a preview of the end of the movie or something else is going on. The other thing that becomes very clear about Maud is that her conversion does not seem genuine, as if it is all in her head, not in her heart or soul. Her withdrawn personality does not help her in dealing with others. At one point, she goes out and tells Amanda that she is meeting a friend, but there is no friend. Maud is a Christian without a community, which is not Christian at all. She has no guide or reference point, she just talks directly to God and sometimes gets guidance (again, it seems like voices in her head, not voices from beyond). She gives the impression that she's gone crazy, not that she's got religion. So conflict arises and some horrible things happen.

The tone of the movie is very heavy and very dark. It explores the loneliness of the two main characters though the focus is on Maud. She has such a hard time dealing with other people that her behavior sours the very few relationships she does have. The movie does a great job getting into her head and seeing things from her perspective, making her sympathetic. The sound design and the visuals make Maud's view of things very vivid. But viewers recognize that she often does not connect to others or to reality, generating the horror in the film. Clark's performance carries the film. She makes this delicate, warped character into a person. I kept wishing she would pull out of her doomed spiral but there's nothing in her life to get her out. Her faith is not genuine, it is just another coping mechanism that ultimately fails her.

Recommended, but you need to be a horror fan and patient enough for a slow burn and attentive enough for a finely-crafted work.