Morfydd Clark carries Saint Maud through extremely high wince levels

SAINT MAUD

(15) 84mins  

★★★★★

SAYING your prayers won’t save you from Saint Maud.

This unsettling, atmospheric psychological thriller is the story of deeply religious Maud, a private palliative care nurse.

Set in a nameless, faded British seaside town, the film sees Maud (Morfydd Clark) living a prim and pious life.

She sits bolt upright at the table in her depressingly beige one-room flat and sips soup wearing starched clothes. 

Her new patient, Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), is the total opposite: A chain-smoking, promiscuous former dancer who throws lavish parties in a creaky manor house and is dying of cancer. 

She is the perfect sinner for Maud to “save her soul”. There starts a terrifying friendship, of sorts. 

Vivacious Amanda is willing to let Maud guide her a little and is intrigued by her devotion to God calling her “my little saviour”.

DESTRUCTIVE OBSESSION

Maud develops intense and alarming feelings for Amanda, which sets her on a path of destructive obsession. And as her sanity begins to crack, so do her morals.

This uneasy debut, by writer-director Rose Glass, is set at a near perfect pace. The lighting verges on sepia throughout the entire film, inducing feelings of claustrophobia.

Both of the leads give deliciously compelling performances, but with her pinched, pale face and crazed blank eyes reminiscent of Sissy Spacek in Carrie, this is set to catapult Clark into stardom.

While there are some decent jumps on this horror ride, the wince levels are extremely high. 

Expect many sharp intakes of breath, especially in an unforgettable scene involving a board of nails slipped into a pair of trainers.

Saint Maud is a unique, strangely beautiful film, which is both thrilling and provocative. 

The chilling final scene will have you reaching for the rosary beads for comfort.

I AM WOMAN

(15) 116mins  

★★★☆☆

WELL-behaved women don’t make history, which is why this squeaky-clean portrayal of Australian singer Helen Reddy – who DID make many history books – falls a little flat.

Reddy (Tilda Cobham- Hervey) was a single mum when she arrived in the States in 1966.

She quickly meets fast-talking future husband and manager, Jeff Wald (Evan Peters).

Putting her daughter to bed, she has the idea for I Am Woman, the song that made her world famous and a pin-up for the women’s movement.

The couple love each other, but Jeff gets too close to cocaine and struggles with being “Mr Helen Reddy”. 

The relationship crumbles as he descends further into drugs, spending and paranoia.

This well-made, sturdy biopic is heart-warming – and Cobham-Hervey’s performance is captivating. 

But while fascinating chapters in Reddy’s life are given mere montages, too much time is spent on playing out entire songs.

It leaves too many questions about Reddy.

This is a perfectly pleasant film, but, as powerful women know, you don’t get that far just being pleasant.

KAJILLIONAIRE

(12A) 106mins

★★☆☆☆

AT first this film, written and directed by Miranda July, appears to be kooky and intriguing.

The dark comedy is the story of Old Dolio, played by Evan Rachel Wood, who has been trained by her con artist parents (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) for all of her 26 years to scam and steal.

They proudly declare how she could forge signatures before she learned to write and can spot every CCTV in the supermarket.

Old Dolio has never had a happy, loved day in her life but that all changes when she meets Melanie (Gina Rodriguez) during a scam, and her eyes are suddenly opened to human kindness. 

There are the occasional amusing moments littered throughout this rather discombobulated film – such as when Old Dolio explains in a flat voice to a room full of strangers that she was named after a man who won the lottery.

Her parents had hoped by doing so he would give them some of his winnings, “But he spent it on alternative cancer treatment instead”.

But while I understand what July is trying to make with this wannabe indie film – honestly I do – its chaotic script and unlikeable characters render the movie a lot like its title: Difficult.