SAINT MAUD

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens in a hospital where a young nurse, Maud (Morfydd Clark), is sitting in the corner of a dark room, her face stained with blood. On the other end of the room, her patient lies dead. Maud stares at a roach crawling on the ceiling above her.

Sometime later, Maud packs her things and prays before starting a new job as a caretaker for a former dancer and choreographer named Amanda Kohl (Jennifer Ehle), who is suffering from stage 4 lymphoma of her spinal column. Maud meets Amanda’s last nurse, who refers to the woman as “a bit of a cunt”. After Maud sets herself up and meets Amanda, she continues to talk to God and appears to feel a supernatural presence among her, giving her an ecstatic sensation.

While Maud takes good care of Amanda, she admits to Maud that she has a fear of death. She sends Maud out on the town while she has a male visitor. Maud observes the town that Amanda lives in as unpleasant. When she returns, she finds Amanda and the other man arguing before it appears that it’s just drunken horseplay. Maud talks to Amanda after the man leaves about her faith, and she appears to convince Amanda to follow through with it as well. Maud prays and the two appear to experience the same sensation.

Maud notices a young woman, Carol (Lily Frazer), coming to visit Amanda, who pays Carol for sex. Maud becomes uncomfortable with Carol being there since she feels that this relationship may hinder Amanda’s chance at salvation.

While out for a walk, Maud is approached by a former friend named Joy (Lily Knight), who refers to Maud by her real name, Katie. They catch up briefly, and after Maud mentions her new job, Joy asks her if they know about the previous incident with her patient. She says yes, and Joy gives Maud her number in case she wants to talk again.

When Carol visits again, Maud takes her aside and tells her to stop seeing Amanda. Although Carol laughs it off, Maud stays firm and orders Carol to leave Amanda alone since Maud is trying to help her find salvation before her impending death. Carol seemingly agrees to what Maud says and leaves.

Amanda hosts a birthday party with several guests, including Carol. Maud is displeased with the whole thing. Amanda calls her over and tells all the guests how Maud tried to send Carol away, to which the others laugh. Although Maud tries to talk to Amanda in an attempt to continue saving her faith, Amanda mocks Maud’s faith and God, and Maud responds by smacking her in front of the other guests, resulting in her getting fired.

Maud later prays and feels that God is no longer looking out for her, so she goes out to a pub to look for a companion. She finds one man and gives him a handjob in the bathroom. Afterward, she tries to join a group of friends, but they ignore her. Maud then sees everyone’s beer glasses appear to swirl, causing her to jump in fright. She runs into a larger man, Christian (Turlough Convery), with whom she ends up going home for sex. In the middle of it, Maud hallucinates her performing CPR on the patient that died on her and then envisions her crushing Christian’s chest with her hands. It causes her to scream and jump off him. Christian then forces her to let him finish before he later brings up her past as Katie, where she would be a hard-drinking party girl who slept with another friend of his.

Maud walks by Amanda’s home and sees her new nurse, Esther (Rosie Sanson). She finds her by the water and sits to talk to her and pry her for information, but she storms off after hearing that Esther seems to have a pretty good relationship with Amanda.

Later that night, as Maud tries to sleep, she experiences another supernatural sensation. She sees a cloudy formation appear in her room that speaks to her in a deep-voiced foreign language. The voice speaks to Maud and appears to present her with a task. She then starts to float in the room.

Maud invites Joy to come over briefly. She apologizes to Maud for bringing up the previous incident, but as Joy continues talking, Maud sees the cloud formation again and quickly forgives Joy before sending her away.

Maud goes to Amanda’s house that night after Esther leaves. When she goes into Amanda’s room, she seems to forgive Maud for the earlier incident, but also apologizes for mocking her faith. Maud once again tries to get Amanda to practice her faith, but she tells Maud that she was faking it earlier when she seemed to “experience” it with her. Amanda then appears to turn demonic and tell Maud that God isn’t real. Maud loses her mind and lunges at Amanda, stabbing her to death.

The next morning, Maud walks to the beach in a white robe. She stands before a crowd and douses herself with acetone as everyone starts to look horrified at what she is about to do. Maud pulls out a lighter and ignites herself. She appears to grow fire wings as a light shines down on her, and the people seem to bow before her…until the final shot of the film shows Maud burning and screaming in agony.

Maud (real name Katie) is a former nurse who lost a patient on the job. She turns to God and tries to practice her faith for salvation. She takes up a job as a caretaker for a woman named Amanda Kohl, a former dancer who is suffering from stage 4 lymphoma. Maud attempts to get Amanda to open up to God and find her faith, but Amanda is an atheist and only plays along for Maud's sake.

Maud sees that Amanda has a female lover named Carol, and although she tries to get rid of Carol, she refuses to go. This culminates in an incident at Amanda's birthday party where Maud smacks her after Amanda mocks God and her faith. Maud is fired and goes out on her own one night to find a companion. She has sex with a man who recognized her as Katie from her days as a party girl.

Maud encounters a cloud formation that speaks to her in a demonic foreign voice and appears to present her with a task. Maud later goes back to Amanda's house to try to bring her salvation again, only for Amanda to take a demonic form (which is more than likely just Maud hallucinating) and tell her God isn't real. Maud flips out and stabs Amanda to death.

The next day, Maud goes to a beach where she prepares to light herself on fire. The last image in her head is of her taking an angelic form while the crowd bows before her, only for the reality to be that she is burning and screaming in agony.