Saint Maud - Movie Review
What do you get when you take an introverted, delusional nurse and make her the caregiver of a dying, lesbian dancer? One of the most batshit crazy film experiences I’ve experienced in awhile.
A24 has done it again.
If you’re new here…
Welcome! My name’s Zach and I’m an A24 fanboy.
Does that mean I give all of their movies rave reviews?
No. You only need to look at my review of The Green Knight to see that I’m a straight shooter… when it comes to film reviews.
Anyway, A24 is by far the best production company in the business today. The company started with a lofty goal = elevating cinema of all genres. It just so happens they succeeded beyond all measures in the Horror genre.
Let’s count them down a few of my favorites:
Midsommar
Hereditary
The Witch
Green Room
I could go on all day, because unlike the disappointment that is Bumhouse—A24 keeps pumping out high quality horror at an alarming rate.
This is probably why I missed out on Saint Maud when it released in 2019.
The movie?
I’m getting these Cheeeeesh!
Saint Maud is a 2019 psychological horror film brought to us by the brilliant and beautiful writer / director Rose Glass. Don’t know her? Doesn’t matter, she crafted one of the best mind bending walks on the devote side you’ll ever see.
The film centers on Maud, a solitary person in a crowded world. Something happened in Maud’s past that has left a stain on her soul. She’s broken and the only way she can see to fix it is through her conversion to Catholicism. Through conversations with God we see a sad, disconnected soul desperately clinging onto ideas of piety to give her life meaning. So, when she takes a job as an in home hospice caregiver for a dying B-list celebrity she finds her beliefs challenged. The voice of god bids her to action, but will Maud have the strength to undertake his bloody work? Will she be able to shoulder the cross and become a savior or will she crumble under the pressure of her inner demons. Find out in tonight’s feature: Saint Maud.
This film is a masterpiece in sound design. The first thing you will notice is the deliberate silence. Much like the great Bela Legosi Dracula from Universal’s heyday, there’s an oppressive omission of score through much of the film. The silence is found when we are with Maud in her solitary confines. We join her in this void where the silence is only broken by her soothing prayers. We’re lured into the false comfort of the quiet so that when Maud finds herself in the noisy Sodom and Gomorrah of the outside world, we feel her discomfort on a personal level.
It’s brilliant!
The film induces a sense of misophonia that is so powerful, I actually became nauseous in one loud bar scene just like Maud.
It helps that the once in a lifetime talent of Morfydd Clark is behind Maud. The stunningly beautiful actress is completely broken down. All semblance of her beauty is removed through makeup, posture, thinning of her hair and eyebrows, and more. She’s nearly unrecognizable in the role and her performance feels almost too real. There’s a greasy organic quality that just makes you squirm when she enters any situation.
Pairing her with BBC standout beauty of past and present Jennifer Ehle was a brilliant stroke. They tried to dull Ehle’s beauty under the cancer patient get-up, but all it did was make her look like the hottest cancer patient in film. Ehle exudes a savage confidence to play off of Maud’s latent insecurities. She’s the Judas to Maud’s Christ, the vinegar in the wine.
Everything from the dreary cinematography to the script are incredible. The script in particular is a strength as it plays its cards so close to the vest that you never truly know reality from fiction. You get just enough information to suspect the truth, but never enough to confirm it.
Watch this movie.
Now…
Ahem… Ahem…
Clink, Clink, Clink.
SPOILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSS
There’s a lot to unpack here and like always, my spoiler explanation is my own opinion. If you have a different opinion, leave a comment.
Saint Maud is a mind bending trip because of an unreliable narrator, but which narrator is the real issue.
We assume that because we hear Maud’s prayers that she’s the one guiding us on this journey.
BUT… we never seem to see Maud straight on. We more often than not as viewing her from a distance, between party guests, and from above. Are we the viewer, or are we god?
What god is she praying to? was the first question I had as I thought about the film as we are often just an uncomfortable voyeur on the fringe of Maud’s downward spiral. As if we, as the true god can see her mistakes and even though we can yell at the screen, Maud can’t hear us. She’s lost in her delusion.
I believe Maud experienced a psychotic break upon her committing of medical malpractice in the opening scenes that resulted in the death of an elderly patient. This break resulted in the emergence of her latent schizophrenia which would explain not only her hallucinations, hearing of voices, self-harm, and spontaneous orgasms, but also her overall disjointed behavior.
Having had many interactions with schizophrenics in my life, I saw the signs right away. Especially with my own mental health issues, which share commonalities to this disease.
Maud experiences a conversion to religion inspired by the presence of a cockroach at the scene of her mental collapse. She hears god—feels god touch her. Schizophrenics often describe an awakening such as this which coincides with the emergence of the disease. They see the light, god, the devil, or angels beckoning them.
The fact that Maud changes her name from Katie is another sign. Where it may just appear that she changed her name to hide from her past, there’s deeper meaning to this change. Yes, she wants to continue being in situations where she controls life and death, but I believe that’s a subconscious compulsion. I believe Katie’s personality was entirely suppressed. The evidence comes from the creepy fat guy she sleeps with referring to her as a slut from the past. He tells a story about her constant partying in the past and how every guy knew her. Maud rejects this idea and runs from the room.
You see, she didn’t just change her name. She changed her entire life to justify her failings and please the voices in her head.
Her acts of self harm, which were once just a need for extra dopamine in her system, are now an act of worship and much like her patron saint Mary Magdalene, her sins of the flesh are forgiven.
Her need for dopamine and her spontaneous orgasms are another sign of psychosis and chemical imbalance. Where she sees the hand of god playing a round of golf, what’s actually happening is a hormonal imbalance causing a misfire. I’ve actually met someone who experienced a similar issue as a side effect of hormone treatments. This person was unable to enjoy sexual activity, much like Maud, but she’d experience random, inconvenient orgasms throughout her day.
Maud finds herself experiencing these orgasms at times of great emotion. When she thinks she’s converted Amanda and when Amanda betrays her are both powerful emotional rides and equivalent orgasmic ones too.
The only reason we feel the suspicion that a supernatural presence may be looming is Maud herself. We experience the symptoms of her disease. We see her visual hallucinations and hear the auditory disturbances.
Again, Maud is compelled to kill. When she entered Amanda’s room, her subconscious needed the rush of murdering Amanda. The visions of demon possession were just her mind creating justification for her compulsion to kill. How many other patients has she “saved” in this way?
Madness always finds a way to justify itself.
In the final scene we see Maud martyr herself in shining glory. She ascended upon a chariot of fire, her angelic wings outstretched, but in the final frames we hear her agonized screams and see her charred flesh.
On one hand, you could believe that she ignited herself in order to become a literal saint or you could see that she knew that there was no way to get out of being blamed for this murder. The jig was up. Her string of angel of mercy killings was going to come to an end and she was going to be put in captivity. Thus her subconscious came up with a plan to justify the easy way out. Even though in actual Catholicism, suicide is a mortal sin punishable by eternal damnation, Maud does it.
Why?
Because god told her to.
Saint Maud is streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime as of this writing.
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I know I joke a lot, but let’s be real for a second.
If you or anyone you know is or has experienced odd sensations, mental lapses, or personality shifts outside the norm—check on them. See if they need help. Sometimes they need it whether they want it or not. It’s horrible, but it’s true.
I speak from experience.
I’m manic depressive and was an undiagnosed bipolar until I hit my 20’s. I didn’t seek actual help until I was in my thirties. Looking back I can see the evil I committed and it’s like a completely different person was there. I slept around, was addicted to opioids, heroine, and sleeping pills, and overall was just a shit person. I lost two decades of my life to mental illness.
Don’t be like me.
If you need help. Don’t be afraid. Speak up.
https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline is a great resource. It’s free in the US and there’s a ton of resources on the website.
