Maudie

There is quote by Kurt Vonnegut that comes to mind when I think of Maudie, the latest film based on the real life and times of an artist. "Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something." That may sound like a backhanded compliment but if Maud Lewis was portrayed accurately in the film, I doubt she'll mind. To her painting wasn't a source of ego or pride. It was something she just did - to make herself happy - and if it made others happy all the better.

The film picks up with Maudie, played with understated sensitivity by Sally Hawkins, as she struggles and fails to earn the respect of her family. Despite her severe arthritis, Maudie answers an advert for a live-in maid and runs away. She moves in with and eventually marries the crotchety Everett Lewis (Hawke), a fishmonger who manages to put on a grim smile but once over the film's 40+ year time span. After a time living in Everett's dimly lit squalor, Maudie relights her passion for painting using abandoned cork board and the walls of her new home to paint continuously.

The true-life Maudie was eventually considered Canada's most popular and prolific folk artist; though one could hardly tell given the solitude that follows Maudie throughout her life. In the film, she remains isolated, largely due to her debilitating arthritis and painful shyness around strangers. There's one awkward scene early on where Maud struggles to shuffle out of a doorway and stick her head out long enough to compliment a woman's shoes. In that moment we realize her deep desire to be both accepted and left alone.

The film aptly compliment's the artist's own frailties and unconventionality with a strikingly brittle and unconventional love story. Maud's warmth towards Everett is sincere and unconditional. She sees in him, a beautiful person - an outcast like her who has been made wild by the cruelties of life but nevertheless deserves her love. As open as Maudie is to the inner-beauties of a warm sunset, Everett remains as cold and brutal as a winter storm. Yet every time he "puts a foot down," he wordlessly capitulates. He grumbles and erupts in objectively despicable behavior but Maud always seems to convince him that he's capable of love and being loved.

The film continues down this path of bittersweet co-dependence and as the relationship develops, we see the results of Maud's patience and virtue. Thanks to the remarkably assured cinematography of Guy Godfree, the film crackles with natural beauty and warmth of a cozy hearth. There are some truly breathtaking natural vistas on display here, which despite their expanse manage to feel intimate and idyllic.

As a film Maudie is certainly within the ranks of Mr. Turner (2014), My Left Foot (1989) and Lust for Life (1956). Much like those films, Maudie centers on the life of a tortured artist whose personal story tells something truly meaningful about the human condition. It also has a truly award-worthy performance by Sally Hawkins who is at this point in a class of her own.

It's a long time since I've seen a film as affecting as this (principally because it isn't emotionally manipulative, which I always resent). Instead it just tells a simple tale of simple folk living in simple times, between whom love eventually blossoms against the odds. It's also a sobering reminder of how hard times were in the early 20th century in rural communities, where gossip and malice were endemic, people worked their fingers to the bone and there was no room for sentimentality. That very unsentimental ethos permeates the film, though of course in many cases it tips over into cruelty, and the cruelty Maudie suffers is at times unbearable. Yet for those tempted to walk out, stick with it because her life improves and she evens starts to smile a bit, once the art therapy kicks in. Take a box of Kleenex, expect to feel humbled (and never to complain again about your affluent neuroses). Beyond that, both leads (Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke) are great, and the photography of Newfoundland & Nova Scotia is beautiful, capturing the seascapes and landscapes in the brilliant light.

At first i want to say that this is my first review and i'm pretty exited to talk about this amazing film.

What i liked most about this film is that it's just as beautifully filmed, acted and told as the paintings Maud painted.

I loved the cinematography in this film. If you're a fan of cinema I'll bet you'll like it.

The acting is also incredible. Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke are amazing in this film. the rest of the cast is really good as well.

This is easily one of the best drama's out there. So i suggest you watch it.

I want to tell you more but it's better to see for yourself.

Thanks for reading this (short) review

"The whole of life, already framed, right there." Maud Lewis (Sally Hawkins)

Maud Lewis was a pioneer of the Art Naïve school of folk painting flourishing all over, especially in Canada, and specifically here in Nova Scotia. The quote shows how natural her genius was looking out a window from her 10x12 foot home.

The biopic Maudie thrives on Hawkins' superior acting talent that superficially shows her deformed leg, her debilitation from arthritis, and her emphysema doomsday from smoking. Yet she radiates joy and a keen eye for the simple beauty of life. As she tells her husband, Everette (Ethan Hawke), she doesn't need much.

With no formal artistic training, Maud initially uses a finger to paint a tulip with vibrant colors. She barely looks back as she paints chickens, dogs, birds, and "things," all observed inside and outside the humble cottage on doors, windows, boards, and whatever.

The pain most artists experience in order to express beauty comes for Maud not just from her physical handicaps but from her husband, a rude fishmonger and wood chopper without a lick of humor. He begrudgingly allows her to sell her paintings and pockets the proceeds. However, he loves her in his own crude way and provides the home, albeit no more than two rooms, that spawns the art.

Cinematographer Guy Godfree captures the sweep of open nature that surrounds the town and the intimately colorful interior transformed by her art. John Hand's production design makes her cottage so meticulously authentic that you might wonder if he borrowed it from the Nova Scotia museum that now houses

it.

Beyond the pleasant bio of a charming painter, the love between the two is one of the best romances of the year. It could be because theirs is hardly conventional or because Hawkins and Hawke are super actors. Or both. Love abides, and as Everett says, "There's me. Them dogs, them chickens, then you."

For me, this is the reason I go to the movies. Always in the expectation that when I walk out of the theater I simply will not be touching the ground. This does not happen frequently, but with "Maudie" the magic occurred. An amazing story eloquently told. Sally Hawkins is superb, touching and profoundly human. Ethan Hawke is at his best. There is a believable chemistry between these battered beings. When they do take flight, they soar over this crude grandiose landscape so beautifully captured on film.

It's early, but the award community have a sure bet in this unforgettable gem.