Maudie

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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“Maudie” is a biopic about Maude Lewis, a Canadian folk artist known for her small paintings of boats, dogs, cats, skaters, and landscapes. Her paintings were done on wallboard using unmixed oil colors straight out of the tube. US President Richard Nixon even bought one.

Maude Lewis (March 7, 1903 – July 30, 1970) is considered a Nova Scotian treasure. Well, at least a jewel in the rough.

Sally Hawkins portrays Maudie; Ethan Hawke plays her husband.

Born Maude Dowley, she lived with her brother Charles and sister Ida until Charles sold off the family home. So Maudie was forced to take a job cleaning house for a fishmonger named Everett Lewis in return for room and board. Since his house was very small (10-foot by 12-foot) they shared a bed, to the shock of their neighbors. Despite Maudie’s arthritis, she started painting to brighten up the house. Eventually they married.

“Maudie” is playing at Tropic Cinema.

The thread that stitches the movie together is not Maude Lewis’s art. Nor even a romance in the traditional sense. Rather, it’s the sad story about the child Maudie had out of wedlock, a baby that had been given up for adoption by her bother, leaving her to think it had died.

Director Aisling Walsh took on the project after reading Sherry White’s strong script. “It celebrates this woman who was rather amazing,” Walsh said. She added that it was “a very Canadian story, it’s a very Nova Scotian story.”

Ethan Hawke signed on because he had a fondness for the region, personally owning property near Guysborough, Nova Scotia. However, due to tax credits and limited funding, the film wound up being shot in Newfoundland and Ireland.

By most measures “Maudie” is a tearjerker, yet Sally Hawkins imbues her character with a certain optimism. Ethan Hawke provides a gruff counterpoint.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com