Sight&Sound - 05.2020

REVIEWS

May 2020 | Sight&Sound | 81

Puritan values: Morfydd Clark

Maud, a financially strapped, frail young woman,

loses her job as a hospital nurse after an accident

involving a patient. The dismissal sends Maud

spiralling into a cycle of self-recrimination

and doubt, her confusion about the accident’s

circumstances and her role in it compounded by her

fervent religiosity. She is assailed by mysterious

physical pains, fits, faints, and mystical visions. To

purify herself she deliberately withdraws from any

socialising, yet finds no peace. Still, Maud ardently

believes that she has been chosen for a special

purpose. She soon finds another job, as a palliative

caretaker to a renowned former dancer, Amanda.

The stylish but embittered Amanda has suffered

an accident and is now paralysed, secluded in her

stately home. She is touched by Maud’s ingenuity

and devotion, and the two soon take each other into

confidences. But Amanda also wishes to live out

her time a bit, to entertain friends and experience

sexual pleasure and drugs. The puritanical Maud is

increasingly intolerant of her employer’s voluptuous

lifestyle and does her best to erect a wall between

Amanda and her female lover. Meanwhile, Maud’s

psychological state becomes so fraught that she

can no longer tell where the real world ends and

her visions begin. Drawn into her messianic beliefs,

which lead to acts of self-mutilation, she finally takes

drastic measures to ensure that Amanda is strictly

under her protection. When Amanda resists, the

two are set on a violent clash of dogma and will.

Produced by

Oliver Kassman

Andrea Cornwell

Written by

Rose Glass

Director of

Photography

Ben Fordesman

Edited by

Mark Towns

Production Design

Paulina Rzeszowska

Original Music

Adam Janota Bzowski

Production

Sound Mixer

Simon Farmer

Costume Designer

Tina Kalivas

©Saint Maud

Limited/The British

Film Institute/

Channel Four

Television Corporation

Production

Companies

Film4 & BFI present

an Escape Plan

production

Developed in

association with Film4

Made with the

support of the

BFI’s Film Fund

Executive Producers

Daniel Battsek

Sam Lavender

Mary Burke

Cast

Morfydd Clark

Maud

Jennifer Ehle

Amanda

Lily Frazer

Carol

Lily Knight

Joy

Marcus Hutton

Richard

Turlough Convery

Christian

Rosie Sansom

Ester

In Colour

Distributor

Studiocanal Limited

Credits and Synopsis

Reviewed by Matthew Taylor

Conceived by concert promoter and band

manager Dave Mclean as a tribute to his

enterprising younger self, Schemers is a jaunty,

scrappy memoir which tempers narcissism with

a generous measure of self-deprecation. Mclean’s

story picks up in 1979 with Davie (Conor Berry),

in his early twenties, a product of Dundee’s

dour housing schemes, desperate to escape the

drudgery of a factory job after injury curtails his

footballing ambitions. Roping in friends and

family members, Davie turns to promoting gigs

at a local club night. But as his ambitions grow

bigger, so does the ire of neighbourhood heavy

Fergie, who Davie owes money to. It all builds

up to a fraught attempt to book hot new outfit

Iron Maiden, whose unlikely and momentous

real-life concert forms the film’s climax.

Berry, whose angular features recall a

young Peter Capaldi, makes a decent fist of the

impulsive, exasperating Davie. But Mclean’s

screen avatar – as written by Mclean and

collaborators – ends up hogging the limelight a

little too much for comfort. Supporting players

are either underdeveloped or broad, whether it’s

Tara Lee’s pointless love interest or the cartoonish

gangster contingent. The latter element – and

the freeze-frames and split-screens deployed by

editor Khaled Spiewak – suggest the influence

of Guy Ritchie, a sensibility somewhat at odds

with the low-key, Bill Forsyth-esque naturalism

in evidence elsewhere. Ultimately, neither

approach seems quite the right fit for Mclean’s

reminiscences, which are occasionally amusing

but wear a mite thin over the film’s 90 minutes.

Schemers

Director: Dave Mclean

Certificate 15 91m 7s

Dundee, 1979. Desperate to escape his factory job,

Davie Mclean begins promoting gigs with friends

Scot and John, using cash borrowed from gangster

Fergie. Davie falls for nurse Shona, but the romance

founders after Davie’s infidelity. Having squandered

Fergie’s money, Davie and friends weather threats.

Davie makes a financial gamble by booking rising

stars Iron Maiden. Despite Davie’s shambolic

hosting, the band’s show is a success and Fergie’s

debt is settled. Davie leaves town for London.

Producers

Alex Weston

Virginia Lee

Screenplay

David Mclean

Khaled Spiewak

Kyle Titterton

Story

David Mclean

Cinematographer

Alan C. McLaughlin

Editor

Khaled Spiewak

Production

Designer

Wendy Cairns

Lead Sound

Recordist

Aidan McDonach

Costume Designer

Katie McDowall

Production

Companies

Black Factory Films

presents a Riverman

production

Executive Producer

David Mclean

Cast

Conor Berry

Davie Mclean

Grant R Keelan

John

Ta r a L e e

Shona

Sean Connor

Scot

Paula Masterton

Anne

Kit Clark

Wullie Mclean,

Davie’s dad

Carolyn Bonnyman

Moyra Mclean,

Davie’s mum

Blair Robertson

Pike

Mingus Johnson

Kenny

Alistair

Thomson-Mills

Fergie

Reanne Farley

Chrissy

In Colour

[2.35:1]

Distributor

Munro Film Services

Credits and Synopsis