Maudie (2017)

Sally Hawkins is an excellent actress and this film proves it. This film is a lot like the characters themselves: small and artsy.
Maud Dowley (Sally Hawkins) suffers from severe arthritis and no one in her family believes that she is able to care for herself.
But, she finds an opportunity to be a housekeeper for local fishmonger (Ethan Hawke). An orphan, the two do not get along well at first and neither seems to care for 1930s society as they sleep in the same bed despite the stigma that entails.
Maud only likes to paint, but the house is so small that not much works needs done. They each help each other out, though Everett (Hawke) is hard to like, in fact, he's pretty much a jerk for the most part of the film. Even his friend believes that Maud finally came to her senses when she briefly leaves him.
But that doesn't last. They each need each other. The film implies that she is the one who teaches Everett how to read and write. And she eventually does become famous for her artwork, which she sells out of his tiny house. But tragedy has also imprinted her life. When she was younger, she had a baby and was told that it died, but that was not the case. Instead, her brother sold the baby but Everett finds the grown woman and takes Maud to see her in a touching moment.
The ending is sad, with Maud dying though she does tell Everett that she was loved.
Again, the film is simple but both Hawke and Hawkins give excellent performances, which hold the film together. Because, honestly, I had some problems with that relationship, as Everett smacks Maud early in the film and often isn't supportive of her talent and even after she becomes famous, they still live like paupers and he doesn't want to marry her because it would cost money. But he does think that she can do better than him, which is the truth. Yet, for the most part, she seems happy, in her own way. Which is a relief, for her at least. But not for me. Grade: B+