Saint Maud

Dear Mark,

Viewing Saint Maud is an arrestingly chilling experience. Palliative care nurse Maud believes that God, or perhaps a demon equivalent, is working through her, and she is subsequently afflicting her mission to save souls on her latest patient, terminally ill ex-dancer Amanda. Amanda is initially wryly amused by Mauds naive submission to God, however, all is not as it seems as Maud's internal struggle between faith and doubt is disturbingly out of kilter with her external projection. The film follows Maud on her pilgrimage through self-loathing, supernatural encounters with inner voices, and a desire to exorcise her patient of evil to grant her a passage to the important work of dying. Maud is devastatingly isolated in her struggles, an isolation which leads ultimately to a beautiful madness and a searing brutality.

Maud is impressively acted by Welsh talent Morfydd Clark, and in a supernatural dialogue with God towards the end of the film, God answers Maud in Welsh! Distinctively recognisable to the natives amongst us, but the overall effect is to further ‘other’ our protagonists’ secretive predicament. Saint Maud is a tough watch, but a feverishly compulsive one which gifts the audience with access to the very core of a debased young woman.