“Saint Maud: saving souls”: Christian martyrology …

Saint Maud: Save souls 9 points

Saint maud, United Kingdom, 2019.

Direction and scenario: Pink glass.

Duration: 84 minutes.

Interpreters: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Knight, Lily Frazer,

First: on the Flow platform. Also available for rental on YouTube and Google Play.

The link between Christianity and horror is at the very origin of the cult which marked the cultural evolution of the West for 2000 years. The rites which include devouring the flesh and drinking the chief’s blood, the idea of ​​evil embodied in a powerful being, the return of the dead to life or the bloody tale of the Passion are elements that demonstrate the terrifying character that dwells at the heart of the Christian faith. So much so that few imaginaries are able to arouse as much fear as that displayed by its religious iconography, which, if properly exploited, is capable of making even the most atheist tremble. Few films have fed on his images, ideas, scenes or stories, to the point that most of the production of horror films has, to a lesser or greater extent, a connection with him. In case of Saint Maud: saving souls, debut feature by British director Rose Glass, is one of those in which the very concept of passion (or purification through physical suffering), Mad epiphanies and Santeria converge to create one of the darkest universes of recent years.

Maud is a lonely young woman who works as a private nurse after a tragedy with a patient who took her as the protagonist, causing her to lose her job at the hospital. A woman with strong religious convictions, Maud suffers from a crisis of faith and sees only the darkness around her. He now cares for Amanda, a dancer and choreographer who is going through the last stage of a terminal illness. She also has a disenchanted view of the world, although her gaze is more nihilistic and not at all religious. Little by little, the crossing becomes a ray of hope for both, even if the reasons are very different for each. Amanda finds in her therapeutic companion a force of nature, a creature of purity and innocence that she sees with tenderness and sympathy. For Maud, on the other hand, it represents the possibility of putting her life at the service of the pain of others.

In his first feature film, Glass achieves one of the most difficult things to achieve in cinema: to build a universe based on a climate which does not hesitate to assert itself on an audiovisual basis. An environment in which a photograph reminiscent of the morbid light of paintings by Vermeer or Rembrandt, articulates precisely with a soundtrack in which an obsessive and detailed soundscape mingles with the music, which manages to be intimidating without abusing commonplaces of the genre. On this canvas shine Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle, the actresses responsible for playing respectively Maud and Amanda, who manage to make two painfully vivid presences.

Saint maud it is the abyss of the resources of horror cinema of some of these stories of tormented women who nourish Christian martyrology. There are many points of contact that can be made between the protagonist and characters such as that of, for example, Saint Gemma, a girl who in the early twentieth century reported having had conversations with her guardian angel and received messages. directly from Christ, but She also claimed to have received a visit from the Devil, who was responsible for giving her terrible blows. All this is repeated in the life of Maud, who also finds in the disturbing work of the painter and poet William Blake a mirror suited to her torments.

The melancholy manner of the action in the film contrasts with the overwhelming force of its images. The protagonist’s journey, meanwhile, also has a visual correlate that becomes clear when the drama is averaged out, when a series of reverse shots coincide with poor Maud’s crisis of faith. A graphic warning that seems to suggest entering another dimension, another way of interpreting the scenes that follow. Special mention for the final sequence of the film, one of the most carnally terrifying that the cinema has imagined.