The Magdalene Sisters Details

Disturbing true story of catholic hypocracy and bigotry

For me the most disturbing message from this film was that the last of these intitutions was closed as recently as 1996.

The film is a damning account of how women were (are?) regarded within the Catholic faith in Ireland, by Priests and Nun's whose daily prayers were of love and forgiveness, but whose hearts were cold and cruel and activities greedy and evil.

Your blood will run cold at the influence they had on the families of too many innocent women and girls.

The fact that this has occurred in recent times suggests that there must still be many emotionally crippled Irish women who have been permenantly scarred by this barbaric regime. The consequences for these women and those around them isn't too difficult to imagine.

This a poweful and must-see film, despite it's depressing story.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Magdalene Sisters

The Magdalene asylums were where 'sinful' young women were sent to have their behaviour corrected. There were many of these places in Ireland, the last only closing in 1996. The Magdalene Sisters shows them as places where the girls were made to work (in the laundry) and live in appalling conditions and under the constant threat of severe punishment from the nuns who ran the asylum for even the smallest contravention of the rules.

The Magdalene Sisters uses the stories of four girls to tell the story of the asylums. Margret (Duff) is sent after being raped by her cousin, Bernadette (Noone) is sent after being seen flirting with some boys across the wall of the orphanage she lives in. The other two main girls, Crispina (Walsh) and Patricia/Rose (Duffy) both end up in the asylum after having children out of wedlock.

The other main role in the film is taken by Geraldine McEwan as Sister Bridget, the sister in charge at the asylum.

These five performers are the greatest assets of the film. Mullan took a big risk in casting four complete unknowns in the lead roles but it is a gamble that pays off in spades, not only because the four girls are all outstanding in their roles, but because their unknown status allows us to buy into the reality of the situation, rather than look at it as a performance. Each of the four girls have their stand out moments but there are two, both focused on Walsh, that have really stuck in my mind. The first is during a mass nude scene where two of the nuns are making a 'competition' of their cruel observations of the girls bodies and Walsh's breakdown when she is told she has 'won' is something that will stay in the audiences mind for a long time. Equally memorable and, in its own way, horrific is her seemingly endless screaming of the words 'you're not a man of god' to a priest who has been taking advantage of her.

Geraldine McEwan is also outstanding as Sister Bridget, creating a villain who is not simply a monster but believably evil. This comes through best not in the moments she is beating or punishing girls (which she does frequently) but in her comforting bedside manner with Walsh after the 'not a man of god' moment and other quieter moments.

Peter Mullan, despite being on only his second film as director, seems to have a great eye as there are some very beautiful shots in the film. The stand out moment for me was a seemingly Clockers influenced shot of Bernadette's eye, covered in blood from her latest punishment, with Sister Bridget reflected in it. As Mullan observes in his commentary 'it's not subtle' but damn it is effective.