Maudie

 Maudie 2016

• Director: Aisling Walsh
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Zachary Bennett, Gabrielle Rose, Billy MacLellan, Kari Matchett
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water, The Hollow Crown, x + y, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Made in Dagenham, Never Let Me Go, An Education, Happy-Go-Lucky, Little Britain, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, Vera Drake
• Ethan Hawke – Stockholm, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Cymbeline, Before Midnight, Tape, Hamlet, Snow Falling on Cedars, Great Expectations, Gattaca, Before Sunrise, Reality Bites, Waterland, The Dead Poet’s Society
• Why? Hawkins and Hawkes
• Seen: 22 July 2022      

       This film has been praised so highly that I’m almost afraid to watch it. But Hawkins and Hawkes and Nova Scotia – how can it not be good?

       Maud (Hawkins) takes a job as a housekeeper for Everett (Hawkes). Two more socially incompetent people are hard to imagine. Maudie, born with increasingly worsening arthritis is oppressed by her brother (Bennett) and aunt (Rose). Everett is more or less a hermit, misogynist, fish peddler and illiterate to boot. Maudie tries to talk, Everett mutters, slams doors and yells at her. He’s generally abusive but she takes no shit from him, and they sort things out. Maudie may be naïve but she’s sharp and cheeky and has humour. She wins him over.

       And she becomes Canada’s most beloved folk artist.

       True story.

       It’s an unusual role for Hawkes but we know that Hawkins shines playing vulnerable but strong and resilient women. As expected, they’re both perfect. Beautiful scenery too.

       Believe the hype. Don’t miss this one. 

5* of 5