“Your Savior is Coming
Having recently found God, self-effacing young nurse Maud arrives at a plush home to care for Amanda, a hedonistic dancer left frail from a chronic illness. When a chance encounter with a former colleague throws up hints of a dark past, it becomes clear there is more to sweet Maud than meets the eye.” – Letterboxd Synopsis
I really don’t know how to explain what I just watched. I don’t even know if I liked it or not. This movie felt like such a fever dream. Whenever I thought it would go in one direction, it just didn’t, and every time I was left speechless. Genuinely, I don’t think my brain knows how to process this film, which I kind of enjoy.
So this is a story about a private nurse who, in her previous job, messed up and lost a patient, and in that time she found faith. Now devoted to Christ and devoted to her new patient who is dying. This movie, at its core, is an examination of religious psychosis. And how our minds can twist and adapt faith. It was never fun or funny to see Maud’s faith be mocked or made light of when it does happen in this movie, but it was also very clear what the extremities of her faith made her do and how her actions weren’t right. At a baseline, outside of anything else, this movie is fascinating. It is way more of a drama and psychological piece than an actual horror, though.
Maud is unwell. From the beginning, there is something off with her: how she interacts with people, how her faith comes to her. There was a moment early on where Amanda asks her, “When you pray, do you get a response?” And as someone who grew up in a Christian household and spent many Sundays at church. Her response was so unusual and unsettling that it really set the tone going forward. Muad is a very broken woman whose faith is warped. This leads to the ending of this movie that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I was convinced to watch this movie because people online said the ending left them speechless, and yeah.
I don’t have much to say about Amanda except I wish there was more of her in this movie. She was the perfect poison to Maud’s faith. Someone who, in her life, has been starkly opposed to religion being taken care of and low-key seduced by Maud (well, it actually goes both ways at points) is very interesting. I wish there was more of her.
I like the way the movie is filmed. It feels very grimy and real, and that choice of cinematography adds a lot to the disgusting stuff that happens. The most horrifying moments in this movie are like body-horror stuff that looks just nasty, so mission accomplished there.
So yeah, I watched Saint Maud. It was a movie. I don’t dislike this movie at all; it tells a very interesting story, and Maud as a character is fascinating. There’s just something about the film that I don’t love. I almost wish it was a bit longer, but the pacing was very tight. It tells its story and its message well.
Saint Maud – 6/10
