Maud Lewis is one of Canada’s most well-known folk artists, but a new trailer for Aisling Walsh’s “Maudie” shows the painter’s humble beginnings. “Let me tell you how it is. There’s me, then the dogs, then the chickens, then you,” Maud is told by her new employer, Everett. The unfavorable hierarchy is rude and harsh, but it sets the tone for the underdog story — and shows us that Maud isn’t going to suffer silently. “Do you want me here or don’t you? Because I’ll walk out right now,” she threatens Everett.
Set in Nova Scotia, Canada in the 1930s, the biopic stars Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins in the role of Maud, a woman in her thirties who grapples with long-term effects of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The spot for the film shows how Maud enters the working world after her brother sells the family house without her consent. “You can’t look after yourself,” he tells her. But Maud is determined to do just that, so she answers an ad posted by Everett (Ethan Hawke), a fish peddler who wants help around his house. While the two get off to a rocky start, the spot hints that Maud and Everett eventually connect — and he begins to value her much more than the chickens and dogs.
Hawkins has appeared in films such as “Paddington,” “Godzilla,” and “Blue Jasmine,” the latter of which scored her an Academy Award nomination. Walsh’s credits include “Song for a Raggy Boy” and the BBC miniseries “Fingersmith.”
“Maudie” screened at Telluride and the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and will hit select Canadian theaters April 14 and U.S. theaters June 16. Sherry White (“Orphan Black”) penned the script.
Check out the trailer to catch a glimpse of Maud’s quirky art and to see how she’s discovered by locals and the media.
