By

Maudie

A work of art

Sally Hawkins again works her magic with this biopic about Maud Lewis, a fragile, severely arthritic Nova Scotian woman who finagled a housekeeping job for the angry, reclusive Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke), which led to love and marriage. She then taught herself to create art and found a certain measure of fame as a folk painter. Aisling Walsh’s beautifully photographed (by Guy Godfree) and flawlessly cast film avoids sentimentality, and is itself a work of art. It’s a tiny character study that’s life affirming and uplifting, and though it says little new about marriage or art, you’ll be thankful you saw it.  (115 min)