We meet Katie (Morphydd Clark); covered in blood, sitting on the floor. She is a nurse. On a gurney beside her lies a deceased patient. Katie is distraught, having failed to save them.
Some time later we meet Katie again, but she has found God and reinvented herself. Now known as Maud, she takes a position as a private, live-in palliative care nurse to a wealthy dancer and choreographer called Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). Amanda is terminally ill and has lost the use of her legs, which as a dancer, she finds particularly hard to live with. Amanda is embittered by her situation, but Maud feels like they have a connection. When Amanda tells her of her fear of death, Maud comes to the belief that God has sent her here purposefully to save this woman's soul. Amanda perhaps further cements this belief by jokingly giving Maud a book of William Blake paintings, which are very religious in content, with an inscription penned on the cover calling Maud her 'saviour'. She also feigns a similar experience of ecstasy with Maud during a prayer.
But Amanda is still her own person and, despite Maud's best efforts to keep her "pure", Amanda enjoys too much booze, an endless supply of cigarettes, and the company of her friends. Including a friend called Carol (Lily Frazer), whom Amanda pays for sex. Maud's attempts to scare off Carol eventually lead to her own abrupt dismissal.
Distraught and furious, Maud practices self-flagellation and then gets extremely drunk. After a night of debauchery and a one-night-stand; which brings back vivid visions of her initial trauma, and a visit from an old colleague, Maud has a revelation and decides what it is she must do to fulfil her purpose as Amanda's saviour.
An interesting film and a great character piece. Maud is a scary concept; so sure that she is in the right. Although she is not a physically imposing person, her power lies in her position as a care giver and her strong conviction. She is also continually dismissed by her peers; seen as an outcast or as harmless.
Clark is excellent in the role as the obsessed and warped care giver and Ehle portrays the feisty, but broken spirit of Amanda with heartbreaking effect.
Maud's delusions and hallucinations are very subtle and effective and the effects and imagery slowly build up in impact throughout the film's duration.
The locations and the contrast between Amanda's tragic life in her grand, ornate home and Maud's tragic life in her sparse bedsit, are beautifully stark.
I enjoyed the film, however, it does drag a little in places from a plot perspective. Definitely a slow burning film.
I wondered what the significance of Maud and "God's" communion being in Welsh was, but a bit of research and an interesting interview piece I read from the director informs me that this was actually due to Glass overhearing Clark speaking Welsh to her family and it sounding good. Which, in honesty, is as good a reason as any and did inspire me to go hunting for answers in the first place!
Worth checking out, but less scary and more unsettling.
Currently available to rent from various VOD platforms, including Sky Store and Prime in the UK.
Hani
