Opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles

“Maudie” is the true story of Maud Dowley (1903-1970), an arthritic woman with a limping body, but a passion for painting. Sally Hawkins was amazing in “Blue Jasmine,” but in “Maudie,” she is beyond words. It’s a performance you’ll never forget. That is if you don’t let big movie ads overshadow your viewing of it.

The time is the 1930s in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, where Maud ends up applying for a job as a housemaid for the rough and disgruntled fish peddler Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke in a razor sharp performance). He lives in a shabby place, and does not tolerate laziness. He is the king of his castle, and therefore, he is the boss of her. Now, I know you’re thinking he is an asshole (and I was too), and the movie doesn’t really explain why he is so, but as his connection with Maud continues, he grows to love her.

Both he and a New Yorker named Sandra (Kari Matchett) discover her lovely paintings. She paints pictures in his house, and makes cards, so they decide to sell them. And she becomes famous.

“Maudie,” directed by Aisling Walsh and written by Sherry White, is a lovely and dramatic film. It’s the kind that shows us a fresh connection between a rough man and a feeble woman. Hawkins and Hawke are both wonderful in every way possible.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/2

Categories: Biography, Drama, Romance