Saint Maud movie review - Aussieboyreviews
DOES SAINT MAUD TAKE A PSYCHOLOGICALLY SCARY LOOK AND MENTAL HEALTH AND RELIGION?
Although sometimes overstated, Saint Maud is an entertaining, psychological and unsettling horror movie. It focuses on themes around religion and mental health.
Storyline
After a traumatic event cause her to pursue a pious path of religious devotion, a hospice nurse becomes obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Rose Glass
Cast: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Frazer, Caoilfhionn Dunne
Writer: Rose Glass
Release Date (Australia): 21 February 2020
Runtime: 84 minutes/1h 24m
Genre: Drama, Horror
Country: UK
Language: English, Welsh
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
Themes in the film include terminal and mental illness, as well as several scenes that feature disturbing and religious hallucinations.
The film contains a bloody scene in which a woman is stabbed and a scene in which a man continues sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. During a sex scene, a woman hallucinates crushing the man’s chest.
There are multiple uses of the words “f**k” and a singular use of the word “c**t”.
None.
The film contains sometimes sexualised depictions of a woman’s buttocks.
The film contains verbal sexual references, a woman masturbating a man and a man and woman having sex.
mpaa rating
R (for disturbing and violent content, sexual content and language)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Writer-director Rose Glass’ unsettling and challenging psychological horror film takes a perplexing look at religion and mental health. It has a very uneasy tone and produces some chilling scares for horror fans, but it’s just difficult to recommend to a horror fan because it just doesn’t feel exactly like a straight horror movie, or even a horror story or casual film. It’s more of a psychological experience about obsession that drowns you in questions.
Glass’ exceptional work behind the camera on the direction and script is what makes Saint Maud precisely what it is and what it would be remembered for. She captures what feels like a horrifyingly realistic look about a woman obsessing over the thought that God has a plan for her, and it travels to the point where there’s extremely unsettling hallucination scenes and mental intensity.
The leading character, Maud, is persistently interesting to watch as the film follows her state of mind as it descends deeper into obsession. This makes Morfydd Clark a talented actress with massive skills who deserves truly big movies. But every element always falls back into the hands of Rose Glass, who captures the psychological effect masterfully. And the heavy focus on religion is captivating, so nobody has to worry about losing interest.
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