Maudie

A film about the life of a Canadian folk painter. Maud lives in Nova Scotia and has rheumatoid arthritis. Her family thinks she cannot look after herself and she lives with her aunt. One day she sees a notice in a shop: Everett, a fish seller, is looking for someone to keep house. She applies and goes to that house. The house is a single room and very small. Everett is coarse, says little and is used to living alone. The relationship starts as a work arrangement, becomes a marriage, and neither of them quite discusses it. In her spare time Maud starts painting the walls: the door, the window frames, the stove, and then pictures on small boards. People passing on the road start buying them. What the film is interested in is not fame but the life lived in that house. Even after she becomes known, Maud goes on working in the same room at the same thing. Sally Hawkins plays Maud and Ethan Hawke plays Everett; her performance is what the film is most praised for. Aisling Walsh directed. It is a Canadian and Irish co-production, shot in Newfoundland. A warm and honest film for anyone who likes biographical drama and quiet storytelling. For a viewer expecting movement, it takes place almost entirely in one house.