Saint Maud (2019)

Katie, a nurse, is unable to save the life of a patient in her care, despite attempting CPR.

Some time later, Katie, referring to herself as Maud, has become a devout Roman Catholic and is working as a private palliative care nurse in an English seaside town. She is assigned to care for Amanda, a hedonistic former dancer and choreographer from the US who is terminally ill with stage four lymphoma. Amanda is embittered by her fate and confesses to Maud that she fears the oblivion of death. Maud comes to believe that God has tasked Maud with saving the atheist Amanda's soul. Maud reveals to Amanda that she sometimes feels God's presence, and she and Amanda appear to be overcome with ecstasy as they pray together.

Maud becomes suspicious of Amanda's companion Carol, who visits regularly and with whom Amanda has sex. She implores Carol to stop visiting because she believes Amanda's soul is in jeopardy due to distractions of the flesh. Carol is incensed by this, accusing Maud of homophobia, but Maud rebukes this stating that she would not care whether Carol were a man or a woman. When Carol attends Amanda's birthday party, and in front of Maud, Amanda informs the partygoers that Maud has tried to drive Carol away. The party guests laugh at Maud, call her "Saint Maud", and wrap a cover on her head. Amanda mocks Maud for trying to save her soul and suggests that she is a homophobic prude, jealous of her relationship with Carol. Maud strikes Amanda and is dismissed from her job.

Believing that God has rejected her, Maud visits a pub to find companionship but is rejected by most of the people she encounters. She goes home with a man, and during sex she suffers flashbacks of the death of her patient and her attempts at CPR, which causes her to stop. The man initially appears sympathetic but then rapes Maud who initially resists and then appears to dissociate. As she is leaving, he taunts her by revealing that he remembers she'd hooked up with a friend of his during her hedonistic past.

While out walking, Maud encounters Amanda's new nurse and storms off when she realizes that her replacement enjoys a good relationship with Amanda. In her decrepit apartment, Maud begs for a sign from God, who appears to tell her to be ready for an act that will demonstrate her faith. Repentant of her actions, Maud assembles a spugna for her right foot to practice the mortification of the flesh.

That night, Maud, dressed in a makeshift robe and wearing rosary beads, enters Amanda's house after the care nurse leaves. She finds Amanda in bed, weakened. Amanda asks forgiveness for mocking her faith, and Maud joyously reminds her of the time they experienced God's presence. Amanda reveals that she feigned the experience and that she believes God is not real. Maud recoils in horror as a now-demonic Amanda hurls her across the room and mocks her for needing to prove her faith. In a delirious frenzy, Maud stabs Amanda with a pair of scissors, killing her.

In the morning, Maud wanders onto a beach and douses herself with acetone peroxide before horrified onlookers. She utters her last words in Welsh—"Glory to God"—as she self-immolates. In her last moments, angel wings appear upon her, and the onlookers kneel in awe as Maud looks up to the sky, glowing with grace. A smash cut for a split second reveals the reality of Maud being burned alive and screaming in agony.