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It’s been a while since the legendary British-born actress Sally Hawkins has had a role that allowed her to steer an entire film the way her critical-breakthrough role in Mike Leigh’s 2008 film “Happy Go Lucky” did, but she has been working steadily over the past few years. She has all of that and more with “Maudie.”
After a brief introduction, the film opens with a shot of Hawkins, who appears to be elderly and frail, twisting her body as she dips a brush into a paintbox, and then applying some color to a simple flower design on the wall behind her, all with what appears to be great difficulty. The shot raises a number of questions, the most prominent of which is: what is the character suffering from? What is the purpose of her painting flowers on the wall? And so forth.
Hawkins appears in the following scene, looking much younger and relaxing on a porch while smoking a cigarette. Due to Hawkins’ diminutive size and posture, which suggests stunted growth, the sight is startling; there is something childlike about her that is brought into sharp relief by the cigarette. She hears two people talking about her from inside the house, and they refer to her as if she is a child, which she finds offensive. Charles (Zachary Bennett) and her Aunt Ida (Gabrielle Rose) are the “adults,” and Charles is reminding Ida that he’s paying Ida money to look after Hawkins’ Maud, who is in her care. Maud, on the other hand, only wants to return to the house that she has come to know as her home, and she is devastated when Charles informs her that the property has been sold.
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“Maudie,” directed by Aisling Walsh, an Irish-born filmmaker, is a biographical film about Maud Lewis, one of Canada’s most beloved folk artists of the twentieth century. The film, which is shot with a level of artistic finesse that is almost overwhelming at times, does not play like a traditional biopic in any way. The true nature of Maud’s affliction is not revealed to the audience until the film is more than two-thirds of the way through. (Maud Lewis suffered from painful arthritis for the rest of her life, which she attributed to rheumatic fever she contracted as a child.) The town in which she lived, married, and painted her simple, bright paintings is not mentioned in the opening title or in any other way in the book. It’s a breath-taking piece of scenery (the setting is Nova Scotia, but the film was actually partially shot in Ireland and other parts of Canada). This film shows rather than tells, and what it shows is sad, disturbing, beautiful, and moving all at the same time, at times all at the same moment.
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In order to get away from Aunt Ida’s house, Maud will typically wait until all of the lights have been turned out in the house before hobbling out and walking to a roadhouse, where she will listen to jazz while drinking beer and smoking. It is set in the late 1930s when the film begins.) During a shopping trip, she stops in at a dry-goods store where she is approached by a gruff, grunting, stocky man who asks the proprietor to write an advertisement for a maid, as if he doesn’t have the ability to write himself. It doesn’t take long for Maud to tear the notice from the wall and track down the man to his house—more of a shack, really, guarded by two yappy dogs—where she applies for the position, primarily so she can get out from under Ida’s thumb.
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Everett Lewis is a fishmonger and odd-jobs worker who is as shut down as Maudie is open, and he is a good match for Maudie. This film belongs to a specific kind of sub-genre: it tells the story of two lonely people who are social outcasts and who find comfort and solace in one another’s company. However, once again, it does not approach this subject in a conventional manner. For starters, Everett is initially dismissive and downright cruel to Maudie; he also engages in unconscionable behavior on a regular basis. Even though Maudie will be working as a live-in maid, the shack is too small to accommodate an additional bed. So the two of them take up residence on a mattress in what is essentially an attic, and one night Everett has an epiphany, prompting Maudie to share a tragic story from her past with him. A tragic tale that, as we later discover, is based largely on fabrication. They eventually “lie together,” and Maudie is adamant about her desire to be married. Everett eventually caves in to pressure from this source. It turns out that this is his way of doing things. He is an orphan himself, and he enjoys raising hell, in a grumbling manner, against anyone who comes to him with a request. Then, without saying anything, he grants the request. As a result, Maudie is granted permission to pursue her passion for painting, which she has done since childhood. In the shack’s interior, she paints all over the walls, creates miniature postcards, and begins painting on discarded boards of wood. Sherry (Kari Matchett), a sophisticated urbanite who summers in the neighborhood, eventually takes notice of the artwork. And Maudie and Everett become well-known as a result.
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However, this is not a story about celebrity. It’s a love story in which neither of the main characters ever says the three words that most lovers say to each other: “I love you.” It is a story of suffering, difficulty, and cold, but it is also a story of happiness. Toward the end of the film, Maudie’s Aunt Ida tells her, “You’re the only one in our family who ended up happy.” To her quasi-patron Sherry, Maudie explains that her happiness stems from both her way of seeing the world and her delight in depicting it through her eyes and art supplies. “I’m never happier than when I’m in front of the mirror with a brush in hand.” When she doesn’t have a brush in front of her, she is a kind and honest soul who enjoys being around people. When she’s about to slaughter a chicken for stew, one of the film’s most amusing sequences involves her profusely apologizing to the chicken.
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Hawkins’ performance is breathtaking and emotionally moving throughout. It takes a little longer to get used to Ethan Hawke in the role of Everett. His physical performance is always on point, which is especially impressive considering he’s playing a much thicker type (in every sense of the word) than he usually does. However, the grunts he emits at first seem a little too reminiscent of Billy Bob Thornton’s immortal “Sling Blade” character, which is a little disappointing. The difference is that Hawke never attempts to ingratiate himself into the character, and he never tries to shrug off the less attractive aspects of the character, and you eventually forget you’re watching Ethan Hawke.
Through and through, this is a film that exudes remarkable confidence. Walsh and cinematographer Guy Godfree have taken great care to ensure that each and every shot is a thing of aesthetic beauty. However, the artistry is always in service of the emotions, which end up being both inspiring and heartbreaking in their final outcome.
For more personality quizzes check this: Same Kind Of Different As Me Quiz.
