Maudie

Maudie is a 2016 biographical drama film directed by Aisling Walsh and starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke. A co-production of Ireland and Canada, it is about the life of folk artist Maud Lewis, who painted in Nova Scotia. In the story, Maud (Hawkins) struggles with rheumatoid arthritis, the memory of a lost child, and a family that doubts her abilities, before moving in with a surly fish peddler (Hawke) as a housekeeper. Despite their differing personalities, they marry as her art gains in popularity. The film was shot in Newfoundland and Labrador, requiring a re-creation of Lewis's famously small house. It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2016. It was selected for the Special Presentations section of the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and won a number of awards at other festivals. After festival screenings and wider releases, it received positive reviews, and won critics societies' awards for Hawkins' performance; seven Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Motion Picture; and three Irish Film & Television Awards, including Best Director and Best International Actor for Ethan Hawke. The fact that the film was shot in Newfoundland was the subject of controversy in Lewis' native Nova Scotia. Nevertheless, the film's popularity sparked a resurgence of interest in Lewis' art. Plot In Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, Maud Dowley is a woman living with her Aunt Ida and brother Charles in the 1930s. She has severe arthritis and is shocked to learn that Charles has sold their family home, which their parents had left to him. In the meantime, she is berated by Ida about visiting the local nightclub. Maud had once been impregnated and gave birth, but Charles and Ida told her that the child was deformed and died.