MAUDIE – Review

Left to right: Sally Hawkins as Maud Lewis and Ethan Hawke as Everett Lewis. Photo by Duncan Deyoung, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

Sally Hawkins gives a winning performance as Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis in the biopic MAUDIE. Despite suffering from crippling arthritis since childhood, Maud is determined to paint and live life on her own terms, in director Aisling Walsh’s inspiring but frank portrait of a self-taught artist in rural Nova Scotia. Against all expectations, Maud captures the attention of the art world, and achieves fame for her appealing colorful art. The remarkable story is fascinating but much of the film’s appeal comes from Sally Hawkins’ delightful performance as the woman artist who overcame so many obstacles.

In Nova Scotia in 1938, Maud Dawley (Sally Hawkins)is in her early 30s and finds herself shuffled off to live with her stern Aunt Ida (Gabrielle Rose) by her brother Charles (Zachary Bennett) after the death of their parents. Afflicted with arthritis since childhood, Maud is nonetheless intelligent and has a sparkling, sunny personality. Despite her hunched-over body and twisted hands, she paints daily, finding enjoyment and escape in her art. When her brother Charles (Zachary Bennett) dismissively tells her he has sold their family home without even asking her and that she must stay with Aunt Ida, Maud recognizes her position as kind of ward of her family, with no choice in her own life.

Determined to have her own life, Maud announces she will get a job, a plan at which the aunt scoffs. While shopping in a store in the nearby village of Marshalltown, Maud overhears a scruffy, middle-aged bachelor named Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawk) asking about posting a notice for a live-in housekeeper. After the gruff Everett leaves, Maud takes down the notice and presents herself on the doorstep of his tiny roadside cabin as his new housekeeper.

Reclusive Everett is an oddball and curmudgeon who is widely disliked, a fish peddler who grew up in an orphanage. He makes clear that Maud is not what he had in mind when he advertised for “a woman” to cook and clean for him, and is skeptical that this small, bent-over person can even do the job. But with no other applicants and facing Maud’s persistence and optimistic attitude, he accepts her.

Actually, Maud isn’t much of a housekeeper or cook but with no other options, he begrudgingly lets her stay. When she starts to decorate the cabin walls with paintings, he is puzzled but only asks that she not paint one corner of the shack. Her colorful folk art catches the eye of one of Everett’s customers, Sandra (Kari Matchett), a summer visitor from New York who knows a bit about art. The discovery transforms the lives of both Maud and Everett.

MAUDIE aims to tell the story of Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis from the time she met Everett in 1938 through her unlikely rise to fame in the art world to her death in 1970. It is an appealing story of a woman artist who overcame both physical challenges and circumstance to become a renowned artist whose art now hangs in museums and was bought by notables such as Richard Nixon. A contemporary of Grandma Moses (Anna Marie Robertson), Maud Lewis painted in a similar “naive” style, using bright colors and shadow-less images to portray subjects from her everyday rural life, including animals and landscapes.

A major appeal of MAUDIE is Sally Hawkins’ charming, uplifting performance. Hawkins creates a wonderful and appealing portrait of someone with a sweet, sunny disposition but an unexpected spine of steel when it comes to what she wants. In the course of the film, Maud overcomes many obstacles and is transformed into a self-assured artist. Everett’s tiny shack has no running water or electricity, and only one bed, yet she chooses it over her aunt’s comfortable home, just to be free to live her own life as who she is. Maud’s family shuns her for “living in sin” with Everett, even though at first they sleep in the bed without touching. When Everett wants to change that situation, Maud starts talking marriage, and again she wears him down.

Maud Lewis particularly painted scenes out her window, and on her windows, as the film shows. The artist developed juvenile arthritis very early in life, but reportedly had a happy childhood. As an adult, her disease left her bent over and with twisted hands and an odd walk, yet she produced numerous small paintings and covered the tiny home she shared with her husband with art. That small “painted house” became was one of her most famous works, and was preserved in a museum.

With no formal training and using materials found at hand, Maud blossomed as an artist despite her difficulty holding a brush and the pain of her arthritis. Despite his own flaws, the film shows how Everett came to support and encourage Maud in her work, giving her a freedom and a sense of worth she previously lacked.

The film is described by the filmmakers as a love story but it is more a celebration of one woman’s determination have her own adult life despite her physical limitations. The focus of the film is really on Maud and director Aisling Walsh thought immediately of Sally Hawkins, with whom he had worked previously, for the role.

The relationship between Maud and Everett is sort of like an arranged marriage where both are not sure about the match. Maud picks Everett as a means of escape from her controlling family and Everett accepts her because he wants someone at home and has no other offers. That he is looking for a wife, or at least a lover, is given away by the way he phrases his ad – he says he’s looking for “a woman,” rather than a housemaid.

Ethan Hawk has a rather thankless job playing Everett. The actor has carved out a niche for himself starring in indie films including BOYHOOD, but this role is a challenge. Everett is as sour and unlikable as Sally Hawkins’s Maud is irresistibly likable. Everett is such an unpleasant fellow that even his only friend tells Maud “everyone hates him,” a description Everett himself does not contradict. Early on Everett is mean, even abusive, towards Maud. Later the character softens but just as viewers are warming to him, he does some other awful thing. The film deserves credit for honestly portraying the couple’s relationship, good and bad. Still, even though Everett is a true curmudgeon, he always treats Maud as an adult, not a child as her family does, even if he mistreats that adult. However, Everett is so unpleasant through most of the film that even by the time we see he really does love Maud, audiences still won’t want to spend much time with him.

The film does a good job placing us squarely in Maud’s world. MAUDIE was shot on location in Newfoundland, and affectionately recreated the “painted house” the couple shared. The film does a marvelous job of capturing the feel of the time period as well as the place. Examples of Maud’s art are represented in a way that conveys their vibrancy. Photography by Guy Godfree conveys us to the windswept landscape and time period, offering many images that suggest the artistic inspiration Maud found in her surroundings.

MAUDIE is an inspiring, heart-warming true-story film that most audiences will find hard to resist. Chief among its appeal is Sally Hawkins’ delightful performance as this unique and admirable woman. Whether you care about art or know this artist’s work, spending time with MAUDIE is an inspiring experience well worth the time in the theater. MAUDIE opens Friday, July 14, at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Maudie poster