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Maudie (2016)
At first glance the film Maudie (2016) appears to be little more than a story about famous Canadian painter Maudie Lewis, an arthritic woman who painted childlike images in early 1900s Nova Scotia. But this description is far too simple. The slow visual and emotional delights of this film are the kind that catch you unawares while you are waiting for the narrative to gather pace and reveal a bigger story.
It is no spoiler to say that there is no bigger story: it’s all about small detail. The opening scenes show a crippled hand barely able to hold a paintbrush, slowly etching the outline of a flower then filling it with vibrant colour. Some may call it childlike, but Maudie (Sally Hawkins) paints the world that she wants to see, not the one where children throw stones at her because she is different. An orphan mistreated by her aunt and brother, she is determined to break out, find a job…just be normal. She responds to a housekeeper advert and meets surly fishmonger Everett (Ethan Hawke) who is too inarticulate to send her away. He lets her stay in his one-room timber shack but makes it clear that he regards her as lower than a farmyard chicken. He is brutish and coarse, while she is determined to see good in him. Despite her mistreatment, they form an unlikely bond and Everett allows her to paint flowers and wildlife on his drab walls. Her talent is noticed by a well-heeled New Yorker who surprises them by buying some paintings. Maudie paints more, interest grows, Everett does housework to allow Maudie to paint, and over time she becomes an internationally famous artist.
This simple tale is strewn with beautiful small moments. There is a simple purity in seeing a hunched figure with withered hands slowly creating a bright pretty world with gentle brushstrokes, then smiling at what she sees. Maudie has a natural gift for finding warmth and happiness in alien places. A particularly touching moment is when Maudie learns the real fate of the baby she had lost at childbirth many years before. Despite the apparent differences between the optimist Maudie and the belligerent Everett, the two of them slowly evolve an emotional inter-dependency. Sally Hawkins fills her role with extraordinary expressiveness: with just a raised eyebrow or a wry turn of her lip she emotes with brush-like precision on the audience’s emotional canvas. Ethan Hawke is excellent in playing an emotionally stunted man of few words who communicates through body language and grunted vocal tones. With minimal dialogue, so much that is not said is felt so clearly.
The film’s fine grain is not its only strength. The cinematography of Nova Scotia village life seamlessly shifts from the landscape’s natural beauty to close-ups of Maudie in pain but smiling elfishly as she finds good in all. Some may find it slow-moving, but the storytelling’s gentle pace is perfect in this portrait of a gentle artist.
Director: Aisling Walsh
Stars: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke
An Ireland/Canada production
CineMuseFilms 
Hope to see “Maudie” this week.
The trailer mirrors your review for me.
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I’ll be watching for your review Christine.
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Sounds utterly charming. I love Ethan Hawke. I’ll be glad to see it!
Richard, before my hiatus, we talked about co-hosting a segment regarding the film critic.
Would you be willing and able for August 13???
Let’s talk about it if you wish at: cbruchman@yahoo.com
No worries if your plans have changed and you are unable.
Check out yesterday’s entry to remind yourself of the L13FC. https://cindybruchman.com/
Cheers!
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Happy to contribute Cindy; just remind me of your parameters. You’ll enjoy Maudie.
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Sounds like my sort of film (you may remember that I like slow films about little people). Plus I like films set in Canada! I like Ethan Hawke (of course) and a toned-down Sally Hawkins would be a relief. I hope it comes here. Thanks for the review.
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Slow and little, with a warm heart. I saw it at the recent Sydney Film Festival; I understand it will get a wider release here. Drop back when you see it.
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I’m in Athens most of the time these days, and not everything makes it here (and in a different order than Sydney). But it sounds like one they might bring here. All French films and a thoughtful selection of US/English releases get here. Cheers
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Pingback: Favourites 2017 | CineMuseFilms
I like films that sound like this one. Beauty, rather than the devil, in the details. *nods*
Now it has just come to me that I may not have mentioned a film I think you’d like very much which isn’t on your list. You might have already seen it anyway of course, you might have hated it, hahahahaha, I hope not. It’s called ‘Synecdoche’ and it was the detail, the softness, the moments described here that brought it to mind.
Have you seen it? You know me well enough to know it isn’t your average bag of bananas, tis . . . unusual.
Lastly, I may have already had this conversation with you as I have a very poor memory generally, so bear with if so and humour a relatively old lady.
Happy 2018 by the by. x
– Esme singing the title track to the film in the background and waving at him upon the Cloud
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This sounds like my kind of film, thank you Esme. May the world look much better this year for your lofty gaze in the Cloud.
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Pingback: The Shape of Water (2017) | CineMuseFilms
“with just a raised eyebrow or a wry turn of her lip she emotes with brush-like precision on the audience’s emotional canvas.”
A really beautiful sentence CineMuse. You have a gift!
I loved this film too. Sally Hawkins gave the performance of a lifetime and would be the reason she was chosen by Guillermo del Toro in “The Shape of Water”. Another great performance by Ethan Hawke as well, though hardly a sympathetic part. The film made uncomfortable viewing for most of its running time but the viewer was rewarded with some exquisitely poignant moments.
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A lovely comment, thank you Anita. Sally was wonderful in both parts; interesting overlap in personas, dont you think?
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Quite likely del Toro created the character with Sally Hawkins in mind after viewing “Maudie”. Same physically damaged persona with a wonderful spirit. I think Sally Hawkins excels at expressing vulnerability. The first time she came to my attention was via the film “Happy-Go-Lucky”. ‘Nuff said.
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