Maud (Sally Hawkins) lives in a tiny coastal Nova Scotia settlement. She is infuriated when her brother Charles Dowley sells their mother's home from under her. Charles and Aunt Ida (Gabrielle Rose) claim her child had died at birth. Seeking independence, she takes the housemaid job for volatile recluse Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke). Eventually they get married. Their neighbor NYC art dealer Sandra (Kari Matchett) takes an interest in Maud's primitive folk paintings. Her work gains popularity and even U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon becomes a customer.

Sally Hawkins is simply brilliant. Her physical transformation is all encompassing. She injects much needed humanity into the role. It's especially important to allow the audience to accept her love of Everett despite his bouts of brutality. His coldness is often punctuated by surprising gentle warmth. This is a complicated relationship and Maud could easily portrayed as a victim which would leave Everett as the villain. There is so much life in her performance and he kept the love in his eyes which excused his many flaws. It's heartbreaking but also life affirming with a few surprise laughs.

"Maudie" is an Irish/Canadian co-production that premiered last year already (2016),so it certainly took incredibly long for this 110-minute movie to finally get to Germany. But the wait was worth it because this was an extraordinary work and I want to explain to you why I think so. I can't really say too much about director Aisling Walsh or writer Sherry White as I don't know them or their other stuff, but their collaboration here lets me hope that they may contribute on other projects in the future. Until then, I may want to check out especially some of White's other stuff as her script is without a doubt among the best of the year. Not surprised to see this film scoring a decent deal of awards recognition already, even if I think that the big bodies (Oscars etc.) will probably not pay a great deal of attention to it sadly. The only category where it may score is with Sally Hawkins' portrayal of the title character, but she has another apparently more baity film out this year that actually has her in an early Oscar front runner spot, so this will also take some attention away from Maudie.

But it shouldn't as Hawkins really deserves all the praise she gets for this one. And her male co-lead Ethan Hawke does so too. I think that he was even an ounce better than Hawkins. His portrayal may not have been as exhausting physically, but he had other areas that made his character a really big challenge and he nailed it tremendously. Be it next to Delpy, next to Arquette or next to Hawkins here. Love interest roles to a slightly more central female character may be his huge forte it seems. It's always somewhat normal, regular guys and he totally delivers in these roles. As for Maudie, this was a decent film for 60-70 minutes, but afterward it turned into real greatness and totally delivered from an emotional perspective. This is also where the film loses its occasional subtly comedic approach completely, not that that one was bad or anything, but maybe it kept the movie from delivering its dramatic strength earlier, which is a bit of a pity.

One thing I liked was how even the intermediate sequences were fairly memorable. The best example is how Hawke's character is pushing the wheelbarrow early on telling Maudie to move faster to follow. Later in she sits on the barrow while finally the two are joking around with her sitting on the barrow. But that's just something I subjectively perceived. Some people may not like the daughter story line and feel it was rushed in, but to me it added a lot as it helped the film to not just focus on the complicated relationship between the two main characters, but also deliver elsewhere. Like in the painting aspect. Maybe you wonder why I mentioned it this late as this is probably what Maud Lewis is of course most known for, but it's just that this never felt as the one central component and if you are seeing the film from this perspective only, then you will maybe be disappointed. So don't as there is a lot more to appreciate in here. I don't really know how much was fictionalized here for dramatic story-telling purpose, but I don't want to know either. Or how much younger the 2 central characters are compared to the people they are portraying. It was a brilliant character study² without a doubt.

Maudie's ending with her knowing she has to go soon and bringing back the dog reference for her partner is touching and real as are her final words about being loved. This also makes another connection with her husband being a decent man from the beginning (also with his professions),but also a man who suffers a great deal from anger issues and relationship troubles maybe also caused by low self-esteem. Hawke really delivered there too. You will find flaws with this film if you are looking for them, so don't and ignore the possibility that it does not even deserve the term "biopic" because it delivers on so many other levels. I think this was an incredibly touching work and it's really close between this one and The Glass Castle about what was the best 2017 release I have seen so far. But as this one still counts for 2016, the question does not even need to be asked. All in all, you really wanna see this one. It will make you feel happy, sad, intrigued, excited and a great deal more. Really don't miss out here. It is a must-see that I highly recommend, maybe a better watch with your significant other than with friends and you also don't need any interest in art or painting to get the most from the watch here. Don't miss out! Oh yeah, finally the title of my review is of course "Everett" because it is as much about him as it is about Maudie and I don't want him and Hawke's turn here to be forgotten.

MAUDIE (2017) **** Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Kari Matchett, Zachary Bennett, Gabrielle Rose, Billy MacLellan. Poignant and wonderful biopic about Canadian artist Maud Lewis (a compelling portrait of restraint and heart-break by an Oscar worthy Hawkins),whose broken winged dove of a human being, finds herself finding herself when she is ousted from her family's home by her jerk brother and selfish aunt. Seeking employment and a place to live she becomes the unlikely companion to gruff worker Everett Lewis (well-crafted job of nuanced grouchiness by Hawke) who eventually falls in love with the truly lovable and humble Maudie. Filmmaker Aisling Walsh does a remarkably efficient job in her big-screen debut after cutting her teeth on television balancing the possibly maudlin and mawkish instead with undeniable warmth, compassion and skill. Guy Godfree's lovely cinematography and the gentle score by Michael Timmins are on point. One of the year's best films.