Master Gardener

Release date (UK): 2023 | Country: USA 
| Running time: 111 min
| Genres: Drama Thriller
| Director: Paul Schrader |
Writer: Paul Schrader
| Starring: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver. | BBFC 15

By Jack Weir

Master Gardener stars Joel Edgerton as Narvel Roth, a methodical horticulturalist who is forced to face his troubling past when he takes on a new apprentice, Maya. Paul Schrader, writer of Taxi Driver and an accomplished director in his own right, crafts a poetic character study here, creating a pertinent metaphor in Narvel’s character growth in the preening of his garden; signifying a return to the natural order.


Narvel works as Master Gardener at Greenwood Gardens, a vast estate, showcased with kaleidoscopic, technicolour beauty in the film’s cinematography. The film’s soundtrack is beautifully composed, mixing acoustic instrumentation with more modern synths as we move between the serenity of the gardens to the mire of Narvel’s past. The estate is owned by Norma Haverhill, played with a sublime snootiness by Sigourney Weaver. Weaver’s performance evokes a lost time of injustice, further implied by the estate’s prior existence as a plantation, a common history in the film’s Louisiana setting.


The film’s central relationship between Narvel and Maya is an effective through-line of the narrative. Narvel is a reformed Neo-Nazi, juxtaposing Maya’s left-leaning persona and black heritage. This challenges their relationship severely, however, as Narvel articulates: “The seeds of love grow like the seeds of hate.” This uniquely political dynamic adds tension to an otherwise hopeful entry from Schrader, finding symbolism in a gardener’s belief in the future, in the need for growth.


Master Gardener is my favourite film of the year so far. Schrader’s thoughtful direction and Edgerton’s masterful central performance make this a profoundly compelling fable of immediate relevance.

Jack Weir studies Film at Edinburgh Napier University.