The Magdalene Sisters

Peter Mullan’s extraordinarily powerful film manages to be as gripping as it is important, without becoming a misery-fest

Tara Brady, 25 Oct 2002

The prospect of a film about the ‘fallen’ women incarcerated within the grim walls of the Magdalene laundries is unlikely to get pulses racing to the degree that the latest Vin Diesel flick can inspire, but Peter Mullan’s extraordinarily powerful film manages to be as gripping as it is important, without becoming a misery-fest.

Set in one of the Catholic Churches’ lucrative industrial laundries in 1964, The Magdalene Sisters explores the phsyical, sexual and emotional abuse experienced at the hands of the (surely ironically titled) Sisters of Mercy through the stories of four women.

Margaret (Duff) is raped by her cousin at a family wedding. Elsewhere, Bernadette’s (Noone) blossoming teenage good looks earn her the attention of the opposite sex and Rose (Duffy) has a baby out of wedlock. Thankfully, the relevant Church authorities see to it that these women are locked away from the world for their crimes, thereby preventing the ruination of many men.

In order to properly atone for their sins the women are condemned to back-breaking, unpaid labour, complete severance from the outside world, regular floggings and ritual humiliations.

Mullan’s film though, wisely remains primarily focused on the psychological aspects of head nun Sister Bridget (McEwan)’s reign of terror. In The Magdalene Sisters it’s not just the physical pain of having one’s hair and scalp forcibly and brutally removed, it’s also having to hold your head up afterwards.

But, this film is far from a mere litany of abuses. The strong characterisation and lack of melodrama ensure that it works extremely effectively as a stand-alone movie, as well as a vital examination in what is still very much a dirty secret in the history of the Irish state and Catholic Church. The results are harrowing, but compelling viewing.

Tara Brady

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