A small story with a big heart.
The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, also known as Magdalene asylums, were places run by Catholic nuns to help house fallen women and give them jobs without pay. And by “fallen women,” I mean women who got pregnant before or outside of marriage, or sex workers. This is where they suffered physically and emotionally, and this became an infamous organization, which is why the new Irish drama “Small Things Like These” dedicates itself to those victims. And as I was watching it for the first time, I was wondering why a young woman would beg her mother not to leave her there, only for a nun to take her inside. I think I was able to read between the lines.
Seeing the trailer for this film and the ambiance of that, I was expecting the film to have a similar vein with “Manchester by the Sea” or “Good Will Hunting,” especially if Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are producers on this film. And even with its Irish location, beautifully photographed by Frank van den Eeden (“Girl,” “Close”), I still think it does. It’s sad and poignant, and it took me a while to understand the nature of it all, but I know it delivers.
Based on Claire Keegan’s novel, the story takes place in New Ross, Ireland during the holidays in 1985. Cillian Murphy in his first movie role since my favorite film of last year “Oppenheimer” plays Bill Furlough, a coal merchant and devoted family man, who struggles to get over his sad childhood, while trying to bring out his humble and compassionate nature to everyone around him.
He does make some deliveries to a covenant, where he gets begged by a woman to take him away, while a nun tells him to mind his own business. He feels bad he couldn’t help that girl, but his wife Eileen (Eileen Walsh) suggests that “If you want to get on with this life, there are things you have to ignore.”
I suppose neither the book nor the film have the stomach to tell us what really went on in those asylums, but it does allow us to read between the lines, especially when we get a young girl named Sarah (Zara Devlin) trapped inside a coal house and the mother superior Sister Mary (Emily Watson) bribes Bill with money in a card. I think it’s best we keep it at that.
As a young man of Irish decent, I’ve been entertained this year by “In the Land of Saints and Sinners,” “Kneecap,” and now, “Small Things Like These.” These films succumb to no stereotypes, but prefers the authenticity of the characters and their environments. In this film’s case, it focuses on one man’s life and perspective, and what he has been seeing lately. Murphy specializes in playing characters with sentimental and emotional aspects, on par with the likes of “28 Days Later,” “Dunkirk,” and “Oppenheimer.” And it’s no different in “Small Things Like These,” when he’s able to deal with his character’s past and present with sentimentality.
The supporting cast, which mostly consists of women, is also excellent. Watson allows her tone to merge with a nun who you can already tell is bad news, and Michelle Fairley is well picked as Bill’s mother’s employer Mrs. Wilson, who takes him in. They suffer through no irritating cliches, and they’re able to keep you alert at all times within the story.
Director Tim Mielants, who has guided Murphy on a few “Peaky Blinders” episodes, is able to present this movie version of the book without glamorization or self-congratulatory overtones, but with interest and heart in the pacing it needs to have. We don’t always need to see the whole story of what goes down in that covent, and that’s probably for the best with “Small Things Like These.”