Maudie

Maudie (2016) is Aisling Walsh's biographical drama, ready to watch online on iFILM. Sally Hawkins plays Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis, her hands twisted by arthritis, and Ethan Hawke is the gruff fish peddler who hires her as a live-in maid.

The story unfolds in rural Nova Scotia, inside a tiny one-room shack with no plumbing. Everett wants someone to cook and clean; what he gets is a woman who will slowly, stubbornly turn his house and his life into something he never expected. Maud paints the walls, the window, the door, then small boards she sells to passersby for a few cents. Word of her bright little pictures — flowers, cats, ox-carts in the snow — travels far past the village, and buyers start finding their way to that roadside cabin.

Drawn from the real life of Maud Lewis (1903–1970), the film rests entirely on its two leads: Hawkins gives Maud a crooked gait and an obstinate grin, while Hawke plays a man who can only show love by not saying it. There is no sugar here and no pity for the viewer — just a quiet account of joy scratched out of poverty and pain. Stream Maudie (2016) online on iFILM.