Maudie
(2017)The true story of Canadian folk artist Maude Lewis.
Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke star in this true story of gifted, arthritic Canadian folk painter Maud Lewis and her unlikely romance with the reclusive Everett Lewis.... More
"Bad-natured loner Everett (Hawke) places an ad for a housekeeper and doesn't know what to make of the applicant. Maudie (Hawkins) is hunched over with hands gnarled by arthritis, but she's eager to take the unappealing job. Gruff and boorish, Everett treats Maudie poorly, but she patiently chips away at his tough exterior. Her arthritis makes painting difficult but it's liberating for Maudie; soon, she's painted every corner of their house, and her paintings develop a loyal following that leads to her eventual fame." (Sydney Film Festival)Hide
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Directed by Aisling Walsh ('Song for a Raggy Boy', 'The Daisy Chain')
Starring Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Gabrielle Rose, Billy MacLellan, Zachary Bennett, Kari Matchett, David Feehan, Marthe Bernard, Greg Malone
Written by Sherry White
Out Now (On-Demand,
DVD or Blu-Ray)
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Maudie
BY GDAldridge lister
Wonderful performances in this film make for a touching and moving night's entertainment
BY cinemusefilm superstar
It is no spoiler to say that there is no bigger story: it’s all about small detail.... More 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 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.Hide
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The Press Reviews
A claustrophobic two-hander most of the way that will appeal almost exclusively to older art house patrons, but it has a shot at carving a profile for itself on the basis of Hawkins' captivating performance. Full Review
A romantic drama with a scruffy integrity, "Maudie" is, for better and for worse, an actorly exercise in presenting an audience with two willfully peculiar characters and then trying to find a way to make us fall in love with them. Full Review
Sticks by its less-is-more ethos to the end, but Hawkins and Ethan Hawke turn a tragic tale into an absorbing one. Full Review
What interests Walsh and screenwriter Sherry White isn’t Lewis’ disability, but the other obstacles that stood between her and the unlikely success she found as a painter. Full Review
Equal parts engrossingly tragic and joyful. Full Review
The only fireworks here are of the indoor kind, but this sensitive, beautifully acted film lingers long after the final frame. And the Newfoundland locations are breathtaking. Full Review
Hawkins shines in a touching biopic that will make you laugh, cry and Google its subject afterwards. Full Review
As unassuming and gentle as its subject, Maudie breaks your heart with its infectious positivity and an outstanding Sally Hawkins, who can always be relied on for an emotionally sturdy, big-hearted performance. Full Review
What started as cinematic torture transformed ultimately into a charming story of unanticipated celebrity and success. On film, as in life, Maudie eventually shone through. Full Review
Blessed by a distinctly human and subtle turn from its leading lady, and if there's any justice come awards season will be rightly recognised so. Full Review
Too sentimental to be great, but the sumptuous camerawork of Guy Godfree and Hawkins’s remarkable turn lift it well above the run-of-the-mill. Full Review
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