Enright, Maddin notes that the book's genesis began with Maddin's intention to clarify the narrative of his films, since "it is a source of continuing frustration that people would say --- and it was always a compliment --- we really like your films, they're so non-narrative. So I thought, damnit, I'm going to get a story that people are going to recognize, something that has legs. I started reading Greek tragedy, Electra, Medea and stuff like that, and basically I just took some premises from these super-durable stories. The things I end up layering around these rock-solid premises are invariably pure autobiography [. . .] once I slipped away what little remained of Euripides, what was left was some core sample of me." Maddin's book treatment is written in a highly literary fashion that is not typical of screen treatments, so that the text reads like a literary work rather than a blueprint for the film: "It is the night before the [Winnipeg] Maroons' first game against the Soviets. Meta and Guy lie in bed, in the midst of a particularly spectacular recital of what could be called THE LIMBO-DANCE OF SELF-PITY --- a verbal choreography performed by lovers who manipulate each other through complicated displays of insincere self-loathing. Participants enter the Limbo in hopes of restructuring the unspoken terms of their relationship." Critical reception Cowards Bend the Knee received very positive reviews, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reporting a 95% approval rating based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from film critics, posts a rating score of 82 based on 10 reviews. Critic J. Hoberman of The Village Voice called the film "Maddin's masterpiece," noting that the film "not only plays like a dream but feels like one." References External links Cowards Bend the Knee at Zeitgeist Films 2003 films Canadian silent films Canadian drama films Films directed by Guy Maddin Canadian independent films Canadian black-and-white films 2003 drama films 2003 independent films 2000s Canadian films Silent drama films