Review: 'Master Gardener' gives Paul Schrader another broken man to redeem, but the results aren't as powerful as they could be

The director and screenwriter Paul Schrader, at age 76, is still exorcising his demons in “Master Gardener,” a character profile that shows there are diminishing returns to returning to the same themes.

The title refers to the job description of Narvel Roth, played by Joel Edgerton. He leads a team of growers who tend to Gracewood Gardens, a large estate owned by the imperious Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). Roth writes about botany and horticulture in his journal — which serves as the movie’s narration — and the entries sometimes take a turn toward the disturbing, like when he compares the buzz one gets from smelling a particular plant to “the buzz you get just before pulling the trigger.”

Schrader reveals fairly early that one of Roth’s unofficial chores is occasionally bedding Norma. When this happens, we see that his gardener’s overalls cover some particularly nasty tattoos on his chest and back.

One day, with the garden’s annual charity auction looming, Norma asks Roth for a favor. Norma’s grand-niece, Maya (Quintessa Swindell), an aimless woman in her 20s, needs a job — and Norma asks Roth to take her on as an apprentice. Her arrival, Roth soon learns, threatens to overturn his carefully maintained life.

“Master Gardener” completes something of a loose trilogy for Schrader, following “First Reformed” (2017) and “The Card Counter” (2021). All three films center on an isolated man — shades of Travis Bickle from Schrader’s true masterpiece, the script for “Taxi Driver” —who uses ritual and routine to beat back the violent demons of his soul.

Edgerton, though, can’t carry that weight with as much soulful intensity as Ethan Hawke or Oscar Isaac. The particulars of Roth’s troubles make him naturally less sympathetic, and it’s a gap Edgerton’s performance can’t span. The Maya role is underwritten, a young woman created solely to be rescued by Roth and be the source of his redemption.

The most fascinating aspects of “Master Gardener” are the character of Norma and Weaver’s laser-focused portrayal of her. Norma is a product of old money, and is comfortable enough to use it to suit her ends — and Weaver gives the character a haughty self-reliance that even Roth’s darkest impulses can’t shake. The other characters may bloom occasionally, but Weaver’s performance is a majestic and thorny rose.

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‘Master Gardener’

★★1/2

Opens Friday, May 19, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City), Century 16 (South Salt Lake), Megaplex at Jordan Commons (Sandy) and Megaplex Thanksgiving Point (Lehi). Rated R for language, brief sexual content and nudity. Running time: 111 minutes.