A nurse named Katie fails to save the life of a patient in her care, despite attempting CPR.
Some time later, Katie, now referring to herself as Maud, has become a devout Roman Catholic and is working as a private palliative care nurse in an English seaside town. She is assigned to care for Amanda, a hedonistic former dancer and choreographer from the United States who is terminally ill with stage four lymphoma. Amanda is embittered by her fate and confesses to Maud that she fears the oblivion of death. Maud comes to believe that God has tasked her with saving the atheist Amanda's soul. Maud reveals to Amanda that she sometimes feels God's presence, and she and Amanda appear to be overcome with ecstasy as they pray together.
Maud becomes suspicious of Amanda's lesbian companion Carol, who visits regularly and with whom Amanda has sex. She implores Carol to stop visiting because she believes Amanda's soul is in jeopardy due to distractions of the flesh. Carol is incensed by this, accusing Maud of homophobia, but Maud rebukes this stating that she would not care whether Carol were a man or a woman. Carol attends Amanda's birthday party anyway, and in front of Maud, Amanda informs the partygoers that Maud tried to drive Carol away. The party guests laugh at Maud, calling her "Saint Maude", and wrap a cover on her head. Amanda mocks Maud for trying to save her soul and suggests that she is a homophobic prude, jealous of her relationship with Carol. Maud strikes Amanda and is dismissed from her job.
Believing that God has rejected her, Maud visits a pub to find companionship but is rejected by most of the people she meets. She goes home with a man and during sex suffers flashbacks of the death of her patient and her attempts at CPR, which causes her to stop. The man feigns sympathy but continues to have sex with Maud, who appears to dissociate in response and is therefore unable to consent. As she is leaving, he taunts her by revealing that he remembers her hooking up with a friend of his during her hedonic past.
While out walking, she encounters Amanda's new nurse and storms off when she realizes that her replacement enjoys a good relationship with Amanda. In her decrepit apartment, Maud begs for a sign from God who appears to tell her to be ready for an act that will demonstrate her faith. Repentant of her actions, Maud assembles a spugna for her right foot to practice the mortification of the flesh.
That night, Maud, dressed in a makeshift robe and wearing rosary beads, enters Amanda's house after the care nurse leaves. She finds Amanda in bed, weakened. Amanda asks forgiveness for mocking her faith, and Maud joyously reminds her of the time they experienced God's presence. Amanda reveals that she feigned the experience and that she believes God is not real. Maud recoils in horror as a now-demonic Amanda hurls her across the room and mocks her for needing to prove her faith. In a delirious frenzy, Maud stabs Amanda to death with a pair of scissors.
In the morning, Maud wanders onto a beach and douses herself with acetone before horrified onlookers. She utters her last words in Welsh—"Glory to God"—as she self-immolates. In her last moments, angel wings appear upon her and the onlookers kneel in awe as Maud looks up to the sky glowing with grace. The scene then smash-cuts for a split second to the reality of Maud being burned alive and screaming in agony.
Saint Maud had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2019.[6][7] Shortly afterwards, A24 and StudioCanal acquired US and UK distribution rights to the film.[8][9] It also screened at Fantastic Fest on 19 September 2019,[10] and the BFI London Film Festival on 5 October 2019.[11] The film went on to receive a Special Commendation in the Official Competition section of the London Film Festival, with the jury president, Wash Westmoreland, saying, "This dazzling directorial debut marks the emergence of a powerful new voice in British cinema."[12]
It was originally scheduled to be released in the United States on 10 April 2020,[13] and in the United Kingdom on 1 May 2020.[14] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release was postponed in the United States until 17 July 2020, and was later pulled entirely from the schedule.[15][16][17][18] It was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 9 October 2020, and on DVD and Blu-ray on 1 February 2021.[19][20] It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on 29 January 2021, followed by video on demand and Epix on 12 February 2021.[21]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 193 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "A brilliantly unsettling blend of body horror and psychological thriller, Saint Maud marks an impressive debut for writer-director Rose Glass."[22]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[23]
Director Danny Boyle described Saint Maud as "a genuinely unsettling and intriguing film. Striking, affecting and mordantly funny at times, its confidence evokes the ecstasy of films like Carrie, The Exorcist, and Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin."[24] Katie Rife of The A.V. Club gave the film a grade of "B+", saying that the finale was shocking.[25] In a review for Common Sense Media, Danny Brogan wrote, "A deeply unsettling, yet superb first feature film from director and writer Rose Glass, this psychological horror is far more than just jump-scares – though there are plenty of those too. At the heart of Saint Maud is loneliness and how it can manifest. Maud is a deeply lonely character, whose need for redemption and a desire to belong, all contribute to form a dangerous cocktail with devastating consequences."[26]
It's interesting to me that aside from some of her basic devotional habits, we learn little about Maud's faith. If she was raised in the church, we have no hint of it. If she's acting out of a zealous, recent conversion, those details are left vague. I think this disinterest in the nature of Maud's faith is a fault of the film, which could be accused of exploiting both religion and mental illness for ghastly thrills.[27]
Film critic Mark Kermode listed it as his favourite film of 2020, calling it an "electrifying debut".[28]
