Maude’s death is the big mystery of ‘No One Will Save You’, so how did it happen?
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for No One Will Save You.
The Big Picture
- The film
No One Will Save You
is more than just an alien invasion story, it delves into Brynn’s journey through grief and isolation. - Maude’s parents despise Brynn and treat her like an outsider, hinting at a mysterious event involving Maude’s death that Brynn feels guilty about.
- The lack of dialogue in the film highlights Brynn’s loneliness and her belief that she doesn’t deserve a community, but her apology to Maude signifies her growth and acceptance of her past.
No One Will Save You is the newest addition to the alien invasion sub-genre, and a great one at that. It follows Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever), a young woman who becomes the victim of an alien invasion inside her home. But while the alien stuff is initially the draw to the film, it actually has a much deeper story and is really a tale of Brynn’s journey through grief and how she copes with isolation in a town that won’t let her escape her past. We see at the beginning of the film that she’s mourning her mom, but we also see her writing letters to someone named Maude (Evangeline Rose). We eventually discover that Maude has passed away, but the cause is left rather ambiguous, though it’s pretty clear in the way that Maude’s parents treat Brynn that she was quite close to the tragedy. So what exactly happened to Maude? And why is everyone treating Brynn like a pariah?
No One Will Save You
An exiled anxiety-ridden homebody must battle an alien who’s found its way into her home.
- Release Date
- September 22, 2023
- Director
- Brian Duffield
- Cast
- Kaitlyn Dever , Ginger Cressman , Zack Duhame , Geraldine Singer
- Runtime
- 93 minutes
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Writers
- Brian Duffield
- Production Company
- 20th Century Studios, Star Thrower Entertainment
What Happened to Maude?
Early on in the movie, we see Brynn writing a letter to Maude in which she says she saw her parents. She cowers upon seeing them, wanting to remain unseen by them. The reason for this is that Maude’s parents don’t like Brynn, something that becomes evidently clear when she accidentally encounters them at the police station. She goes to the station seeking help after the encounter with the alien in her home and instead comes across Maude’s parents. After staring stunned at one another, Maude’s mother spits on Brynn and storms out of the station. Her dad stays back for a moment but inevitably follows his wife after Brynn refuses to look his way. It kicks off the mystique around Maude’s death. Why do her parents seemingly hate Brynn? Why is she seen as an outsider in her town?
As previously mentioned, No One Will Save You is first and foremost an alien movie, so it was just a matter of time until Brynn fell victim to the creatures. After escaping a double of herself and killing it, she encounters a large alien and in her distraction is suddenly sucked up into a flying saucer. While there, Brynn is probed by the aliens, and she suddenly awakens back in her home, only she hasn’t escaped the aliens, she’s being forced to remember and relive the event that turned the town against her. We first see a young Brynn and her mom, and then she follows a child version of herself outside, where her front porch is bathed in the red and blue lights of a cop car. We see Maude’s dad on his knees, seemingly crying out in agony, with Brynn looking on in horror. Then suddenly, we’re in a field, and this is where we finally get answers.
Why ‘No One Will Save You’ Director Brian Duffield Chose an Alien Invasion
It’s a study on grief and isolation. And flying saucers!
We watch through adult Brynn’s eyes as child Brynn (Elizabeth Kaluev) and Maude get into a heated argument. They’re yelling at one another, the reason unknown to us, but it results in Maude shoving Brynn and making her fall down. Angry, Brynn grabs a rock from the ground and, when she stands, strikes Maude in the head with it. Brynn watches in horror and shock as Maude doesn’t move, just falls backwards from the blow, dying from the impact. So Maude’s death was by Brynn’s hand, even if she didn’t mean to kill her.
There’s Only One Line Spoken in the Entire Film
Brynn’s grief and guilt over Maude’s death is the root of the movie, and as we see, she’s a bit of a pariah in her town. No one speaks to her, nor do they even really notice her, and she doesn’t make any effort to talk to them, making for a secluded and lonely life. This is accompanied by the lack of dialogue in the film, something that writer and director Brian Duffield spoke about in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I knew there was a scene where Kaitlyn was going to try to get help at a police station,” He recalls. “I wrote that scene and subsequent scenes of Brynn having a breakdown because no one would help her. Then I realized, I don’t think she’s talked in this movie yet. And sure enough she had not.” It was then that Duffield decided Brynn could be a voiceless presence in the movie, praising Kaitlyn Dever’s performance for allowing him to do so. He said:
“It was a character thing where this person really wants a community and doesn’t think she’s deserving of one. It felt like that device just amplified her character. Most of the movie there’s not really a good reason for her to talk because she’s trying so hard to not make a sound. She’s not going to say, ‘It’s an alien in my house!’ Also, when you have Kaitlyn Dever, she doesn’t need to say anything. She can monologue with her eyes in a really impressive way.”
The majority of the film is unspoken, with one exception, and it all goes back to Maude and Brynn, and sums up the deeper layer of what No One Will Save You is about. After the alien finds a room filled with letters to Maude and pictures of her and Brynn together, it restrains Brynn and forces a tentacled creature to enter her mouth, which forces Brynn into a hallucinogenic state in which her home is undamaged and Maude is still alive. Of course, we know that’s not true, but this feels like a way for Maude to make peace of sorts with the past event.
Tearfully she utters the only dialogue in the film, “I’m sorry, Maude. I’m so sorry.” And then she promptly rips the creature out of her mouth, which grows into a body-double of herself and guides us into the final act. It’s a brilliantly added layer to the film and one that helps to sum up Brynn’s current mental state. She’s been alienated, and she doesn’t see any point in trying to get them to forgive her because she doesn’t even forgive herself. So her only spoken line being an apology to Maude is quite ground-breaking for her, and shows that she’s growing and coming to accept her past rather than burying it and trying to forget it ever happened.
No One Will Save You is currently streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com