Written by Enda Walsh
Directed by Tim Mielants
Bill: "I'm me mother's name and nothing bad ever came of it."
I watched this movie last night because someone really wanted to see it and I mildly curious about it myself. There's been a few films and TV series that have tackled the Magdalene Laundries and this film had something of a different insight into it.
Instead of focusing on a girl who ended up in one of those awful places, the emphasis here was on coal merchant, Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy). He's a father of five daughters and something of a well regarded member of his local community with a loving wife named Eileen (Eileen Walsh).
Through flashbacks to his childhood, we saw that the younger Bill (Louis Kirwan) lost his own mother, Sarah Furlong (Agnes O'Casey) while also in flashbacks, Bill had been looked after by the kindly Mrs Wilson (Michelle Fairley). These flashbacks did a lot to inform us about the type of man that Bill Furlong was.
Back in the present day for Bill, it turned out that the nuns had a bit too much power within the local community. Bill was advised not to get on their bad side but his encounter with a young girl named Sarah (Zara Devlin) certainly changed that.
Then there's Sister Mary (Emily Watson). The Mother Superior of the Magdalene Laundries that Sarah had been trying to get away from. For a character not given a huge amount of dialogue, she's a quietly menacing presence. Sarah's absolutely terrified of her and even Bill was intimidated enough to take Sister Mary's bribe and leave Sarah to her fate.
Of course, because the movie went to lengths to show Bill's morality, he couldn't just turn away from what he knew was going on. While I do feel the movie ended on a bit of an abrupt note, it's not lost on me the gesture Bill made towards Sarah and the likely consequences it would've had for his family within the local community.
- The movie is based on a 2021 book of the same name by Claire Keegan. Both Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon were producers.
- The end credit was dedicated to the women who were victims of the Magdalene Laundries from 1922 to 1988.
- Cillian Murphy had previously worked with Tim Mielants and it was the former's wife who suggested this project.
- Chronology: Christmas 1985 in New Ross, Wexford. The movie was also filmed there.
While Small Things Like These did lose a little steam in its final few minutes, there's no denying that it's a well crafted movie. The subject matter isn't unfamiliar to Irish audiences and Cillian Murphy as always gave an exceptional but understated performance.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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