Master Gardener

Master Gardener is a 2022 American crime thriller film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, and Quintessa Swindell. The film premiered out of competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2022, and was released in the United States by Magnolia Pictures on May 19, 2023. Plot Narvel Roth is the meticulous horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens, a beautiful estate owned by wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill, with whom he is having an affair. Unbeknownst to his team of gardeners, Roth is a former White supremacist in witness protection, having betrayed his former associates after refusing to kill a black preacher's wife and daughter. Haunted by his past, Roth finds solace in ritualistic journaling, covering his White supremacist tattoos under gardening clothes, and the fine details of gardening, which he describes as "a belief in the future". Mrs. Haverhill orders Roth to take on her recently-orphaned grandniece, Maya, as an apprentice so that she can eventually take over the Gardens and keep it "in the family". Though she is resistant to the training, and her relationship with Mrs. Haverhill remains strained, Maya and Roth eventually grow close. When Maya is assaulted by her drug dealer, R.G., Roth has his case agent intimidate him. Maya attempts to seduce Roth, but he rebuffs her when she tries to take off his shirt. Mrs. Haverhill spies Roth leaving Maya's room, and, spurned, fires them both. Roth and Maya decide to leave together, stopping first at Maya's apartment, where she gets high one last time and Roth intimidates R.G. and his friend Sissy. After a few days on the road, Roth begins to open up to Maya and removes his shirt in their motel room, his tattoos shocking Maya. When she confronts him about them, he insists that he's a different man now. They have sex for the first time that night, but Maya makes Roth promise that he'll have the tattoos removed. Roth soon receives a call that R.G. and Sissy have vandalized the Gardens. They return, and Haverhill gives him a Luger to kill R.G. and Sissy but Roth uses his own gun instead. Finding R.G. and Sissy at a party house, Roth gives the gun to Maya to kill them herself, but she decides against it. Roth instead breaks their legs. Needing Roth to restore the garden, Haverhill rehires both Roth and Maya. Roth tells Mrs. Haverhill that their affair is over and that he and Maya will be getting married, which Mrs.