The devil’s in
the detail
Director Rose Glass discusses
the avoidable tragedy of
Maud’s religious descent
Morfydd Clark’s Maud feels
ignored by the world – but a new
relationship with Jennifer Ehle’s
palliative care patent Amanda
teases a glimmer of hope. “On
the surface they seem different,”
explains Glass. “They’re different
ages, from different walks of life
and deal with their problems in
different ways – but they’re both
lonely and alienated. Amanda
is trying to cope by distracting
herself with drinking and sex
and I always thought Maud sees
in her something she herself has
experienced in the past. Faith
was the thing that saved her so
she thinks maybe it can save
Amanda as well.” Sadly, all good
intentions remain lost in translation
as Maud’s situation goes from
bad to worse: “The real tragedy is
the miscommunication. They both
have a different idea of what’s
actually going on,” Glass admits.
“It’s about how hard it is to know
what’s actually going on inside
someone else’s head.”MUST-SEE
Saint Maud044
just there to listen and he makes her feel like life’s
worth living.”
For Clark, the inevitability of Maud’s tragic story
was something she instantly connected with: “I really
saw it,” she tells us from the New Zealand set of
Lord Of The Rings. “Despite everything that happens
I understood every step she took and that’s what
was so great about the script – it was shocking and
unexpected and made sense. I can understand how
she got so lost and that was something that I found
terrifying about it.”
For Glass, finding the right person to tell Maud’s
story was equally crucial: “The character goes to such
extreme places and does some really horrific things.
For me, the test of the film was to see if you could
get the audience to completely go there with her and
empathise and understand where she’s coming from- so it needed to be someone who you are drawn
to,” she reasons. “At the same time, she has all these
contradictory elements. I never wanted her to be
entirely sweet. She’s arrogant, deluded, insecure
and petty in some places, and perfectly flawed like
the rest of us.”
As Maud’s internal interactions with God become
more intense, her relationship with the ailing Amanda
becomes more fraught. Before long, Glass’s troubled
heroine is convinced her mission from God has finally
arrived – and it’s one that will require her to save her
new patient from herself.
“The story I wanted to tell was entirely from
Maud’s perspective,” says the director about the
film’s focus on the perils of isolation. “She sees what
she is doing as incredibly important and looks up to
God. When the alternative and the reality around you
is as bleak as hers is, it’s far more appealing to submit
yourself to this holy mission. I wanted the story to be
told in grand scales and for us to feel the excitement
of what’s going on with her. It was fun trying to think
of different ways that somebody could experience
God and ecstasy.”
“Amanda emboldens Maud and she’s accidently
complicit in making her feel like she’s her saviour,”
Clark adds. “Maud has been waiting and waiting
for this thing that she knows God must want her to
do – otherwise what’s the point? The decadence of
Amanda is really intoxicating.”
Struggling with her situation, the pious Maud resorts
to self-flagellation in order to prove herself in a series
of bloody sequences that aren’t for the faint of heart.
“I’ve loved that,” chuckles Glass, keen not to spoil
any of her film’s teeth-clenching sequences for new
viewers. “One of the joys of seeing it with audiences
has been the visceral reaction, whether it’s people
gasping, screaming or laughing. There’s something
involuntary about it. You hope audiences do all
those things in the places you hoped they
would – but you never really know. That’s the lovely
thing about watching films in the cinema, it’s this
shared experience.”
As for Clark, Maud’s extreme actions brought her
right to the cusp of her cringe-cinema limits: “Saint
Maud is my ultimate horror in terms of my personal
fears,” she tells us. “The type of gore that scares me
most is when I really believe the person. The moreThe devil’s in
the detail
Director Rose Glass discusses
the avoidable tragedy of
Maud’s religious descent
Morfydd Clark’s Maud feels
ignored by the world – but a new
relationship with Jennifer Ehle’s
palliative care patent Amanda
teases a glimmer of hope. “On
the surface they seem different,”
explains Glass. “They’re different
ages, from different walks of life
and deal with their problems in
different ways – but they’re both
lonely and alienated. Amanda
is trying to cope by distracting
herself with drinking and sex
and I always thought Maud sees
in her something she herself has
experienced in the past. Faith
was the thing that saved her so
she thinks maybe it can save
Amanda as well.” Sadly, all good
intentions remain lost in translation
as Maud’s situation goes from
bad to worse: “The real tragedy is
the miscommunication. They both
have a different idea of what’s
actually going on,” Glass admits.
“It’s about how hard it is to know
what’s actually going on inside
someone else’s head.”
MUST-SEE
Saint Maud044
just there to listen and he makes her feel like life’s
worth living.”
For Clark, the inevitability of Maud’s tragic story
was something she instantly connected with: “I really
saw it,” she tells us from the New Zealand set of
Lord Of The Rings. “Despite everything that happens
I understood every step she took and that’s what
was so great about the script – it was shocking and
unexpected and made sense. I can understand how
she got so lost and that was something that I found
terrifying about it.”
For Glass, finding the right person to tell Maud’s
story was equally crucial: “The character goes to such
extreme places and does some really horrific things.
For me, the test of the film was to see if you could
get the audience to completely go there with her and
empathise and understand where she’s coming from- so it needed to be someone who you are drawn
to,” she reasons. “At the same time, she has all these
contradictory elements. I never wanted her to be
entirely sweet. She’s arrogant, deluded, insecure
and petty in some places, and perfectly flawed like
the rest of us.”
As Maud’s internal interactions with God become
more intense, her relationship with the ailing Amanda
becomes more fraught. Before long, Glass’s troubled
heroine is convinced her mission from God has finally
arrived – and it’s one that will require her to save her
new patient from herself.
“The story I wanted to tell was entirely from
Maud’s perspective,” says the director about the
film’s focus on the perils of isolation. “She sees what
she is doing as incredibly important and looks up to
God. When the alternative and the reality around you
is as bleak as hers is, it’s far more appealing to submit
yourself to this holy mission. I wanted the story to be
told in grand scales and for us to feel the excitement
of what’s going on with her. It was fun trying to think
of different ways that somebody could experience
God and ecstasy.”
“Amanda emboldens Maud and she’s accidently
complicit in making her feel like she’s her saviour,”
Clark adds. “Maud has been waiting and waiting
for this thing that she knows God must want her to
do – otherwise what’s the point? The decadence of
Amanda is really intoxicating.”
Struggling with her situation, the pious Maud resorts
to self-flagellation in order to prove herself in a series
of bloody sequences that aren’t for the faint of heart.
“I’ve loved that,” chuckles Glass, keen not to spoil
any of her film’s teeth-clenching sequences for new
viewers. “One of the joys of seeing it with audiences
has been the visceral reaction, whether it’s people
gasping, screaming or laughing. There’s something
involuntary about it. You hope audiences do all
those things in the places you hoped they
would – but you never really know. That’s the lovely
thing about watching films in the cinema, it’s this
shared experience.”
As for Clark, Maud’s extreme actions brought her
right to the cusp of her cringe-cinema limits: “Saint
Maud is my ultimate horror in terms of my personal
fears,” she tells us. “The type of gore that scares me
most is when I really believe the person. The more