- Directed by Rose Glass
- Written by Rose Glass
- Stars Morfydd Clark, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Jennifer Ehle
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXs2-TY9qok
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Watch as a nurse goes insane with her religious convictions. Is she dangerous, or is she going to actually help?
It’s a slow build-up, not your typical horror film, but the ending is definitely worthy of discussion. We did like it.
Synopsis
We start out in what appears to be a hospital. A patient is dead, all cut up. We see Maud in the restroom, her hands covered in blood and very upset. Credits roll.
Maud has her dinner, tomato soup. She’s packing for a trip, heading to her newest posting. She has a pain in her stomach; she prays that God has a bigger purpose for her than what she’s seen so far. She’s a live-in nurse and caregiver for Amanda, a woman with a spinal cord ailment. Amanda was a former dancer and creative type, which Maud doesn’t approve of.
Amanda used to be a celebrity, and she talks to Maud a lot about her life. Maud recently found God and converted. She says she hears his voice; she can feel him inside her sometimes. She knows when he’s pleased, and she likes the feeling. That evening, Maud falls over when the feeling hits her again. She has unexpected pains and nosebleeds.
Amanda humors Maud by following along in prayers a few times. Amanda brings in Carol, a prostitute, to entertain herself, of which Maud also disapproves. Maud recommends to Carol that it isn’t healthy and that she shouldn’t come back.
Joy, a woman on the street stops Maud and calls her “Katie.” Joy seems surprised that Maud is still nursing. There seems to have been an “incident” at her previous posting. Joy gives “Katie” her number. Amanda gets a phone call, and afterward, she treats Maud coldly.
Amanda throws a birthday dinner party for herself, and Carol is one of the guests. Amanda knows Maud talked to Carol and puts her in her place. The partygoers laugh at Maud, and she takes it personally. Maud smacks Amanda in front of everyone.
The agency calls in Maud for a review. They’re just happy Amanda isn’t pressing charges, but Maud is fired. Maud picks at a wound on her hand and complains to God.
She drinks a lot and then calls Joy. Maud gets dressed up and goes to a bar. She does something wildly unchristian to a guy behind the bar and another in his apartment that night. In the middle of sex, she has a flashback to a bloody accident in her past.
Maud prays for another chance at redeeming herself. She then pukes up the alcohol and has a seizure. She then levitates up off the floor of her apartment and just floats there.
The next morning, she cleans up all the mess and feels renewed at the sign that God was with her. She burns all her sexy clothes in the sink and works harder on her self-flagellation.
Maud starts researching Amanda in-depth. She starts to obsess over “saving” Amanda. She finds the new caregiver and introduces herself to the woman. That night, God talks to her personally, telling her to pass this one more test. She knows what she must do.
Joy comes over the next morning, and she tries to make up with Maud, but Maud is strangely quiet. She says what happened “before” wasn’t Maud’s fault. Maud fogs out and doesn’t hear any of Joy’s apologies.
Maud focuses on the water bottle and the acetone she has on the kitchen table. She loiters outside Amanda’s house for a while and then lets herself in.
She goes into Amanda’s bedroom, and she’s gotten much worse. Amanda apologizes for being mean to Maud. Amanda tells Maud that God isn’t real; “Nothing you do matters.” Then all Hell breaks loose.
Commentary
It’s another of those “watch a character slowly descend into madness” kind of films, this time with a religious-fanatic lean to it. The first half of the film is a slow build up to get comfortable with all the characters, but about the time Maud gets fired, it starts going off the rails a little bit. Then it gets positively disturbing toward the end.
It’s much more “low stakes” than most horror films. Will crazy Maud kill Amanda or won’t she? Still, the acting and cinematography work well to portray impending madness, which we do eventually get. The special effects are minimal, and what we get is very well done.
Definitely not your typical horror movie, but it was really good.