The Magdalene Sisters
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| The Magdalene Sisters | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster IMDB  8.0/10 (5,662 votes) |
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| Directed by | Peter Mullan |
| Produced by | Frances Higson |
| Written by | Peter Mullan |
| Starring | Anne-Marie Duff Nora Jane Noone Dorothy Duffy Geraldine McEwan Eileen Walsh |
| Music by | Craig Armstrong |
| Cinematography | Nigel Willoughby |
| Distributed by | Magna Pacific |
| Release date(s) | 2002 (UK) |
| Running time | 119 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | unknown |
| IMDb profile | |
The Magdalene Sisters is a 2002 film written and directed by Peter Mullan about teenage girls who were sent to Magdalene Asylums, otherwise known as the Magdalen Laundries; homes for women who were labeled as "fallen" by their families or society (though the film itself questions this) . The homes were maintained by individual religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church. The film is a fictionalized account loosely based on true stories of the girls sent to the asylums.
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[edit] Plot summary
The film follows the stories of four young women - Margaret, Rose, Bernadette and Crispina - who were all forced by their families or caretakers to go to the Magdalene Asylum. Margaret was sent there by her family after she was raped by a cousin at a wedding. Expecting support by telling a female relative what occurred, instead Margaret experiences the sharp side of a double edged sword. Her male cousin is spirited out of the wedding and she is sent to the Magdalen laundry to keep the secret; Rose was sent by her family after giving birth to a child born out of wedlock and bringing shame on to her parents. Her mother and father refused to even look at Rose's son and the local priest guilts her into giving up her baby; Bernadette was sent there from the orphanage in which she lived for her apparent vanity and flirting with some neighborhood boys; Crispina was sent to the laundry for having a child born out of wedlock and for being a half-wit. The film follows the girls' arrival at the laundry, their experiences there (which at times involve abuse), and the different ways in which they eventually leave the asylum.
[edit] Characters
- Bernadette (Nora Jane Noone): Bernadette is a beautiful teenage orphan who is sent to the Magdalen Laundry because her appearance 'excites' the local boys and they call out to her from the roadside. Bernadette, unlike the other three girls, never actually had carnal knowledge before being sent to the laundry, which makes her angry and resentful of the Nuns in charge, who will not believe she is innocent. Bernadette is the most anxious to escape the laundry, even after seeing the fate of another inmate who tried to escape (Una). Bernadette tries many means of escape; she tries to seduce the laundry boy, Brendan, in order to have him marry her and take her away from the laundry. However, he is afraid of the consequences of freeing Bernadette, and on the night of the planned escape, he locks the door and traps her with the Nuns to suffer the same fate as Una.
- Harriet/Crispina (Eileen Walsh): Crispina's real name is revealed to be Harriet. She was sent to the laundry after giving birth to a child out of wedlock and for being a simpleton. Crispina believes she is a sinner and never complains about her situation. She puts her faith in a St Christopher pendant she believes is a 'holy telephone', through which she can communicate with her sister and her son. Crispina's scenes are generally agreed to be amongst the saddest and horrifying in the film[1].
- Margaret/Elizabeth (Anne-Marie Duff): Margaret is sent to the laundry after suffering a rape from her cousin. Margaret's parents allow a priest to take her away with little complaint. Margaret is strong, like Bernadette, and refuses to break in the laundry. She takes Crispina under her wing, despite Crispina being the longer-serving inmate, and makes sure Crispina is alright. Margaret cares very much for her friend and promises to find Crispina's holy St Christopher pendant after it goes missing. After catching a glimpse of an inmate giving sexual favours to Father Fitzroy, she slips poison ivy in with his personal laundry to get back at him. Margaret is horrified to later learn that the poison ivy not only harms the Father, but also Crispina, the girl he had been abusing.
- Rose/Patricia (Dorothy Duffy): Sent away by her parents and forced to give up her son for adoption, Rose finds herself in the laundry and is prepared to work hard for the sins she has committed so she may see her son again one day. Sister Bridget renames her 'Patricia' because Rose is too pretty a name for a penitent and because renaming forces the girls to focus on their new life as penitents rather than their old life with their parents. Rose is patient and kind and would not dream of Margaret's poison ivy rebellion or Bernadette's first escape attempt, but after being severely beaten by the Sister Bridget for asking if she can send her son a birthday card and seeing Crispina forcibly taken away from the laundry to the mad house, Rose is determined to escape and she and Bernadette hatch an escape plan.
- Una O'Connor (Mary Murray): We first see Una being dragged back into the dormitory by her hair by her father, who angrily thrashes her and cuts her lip. Sister Bridget stands back as Una is being violently treated by her father and does not move to help the girl. We next see Una as her hair is being clipped away by Sister Bridget to discourage her from escaping again. After this episode, Una is quickly broken down by the Nuns and it is revealed that she has petitioned to take Holy Orders and become a Nun herself. It is never revealed what happened to Una.
- Sister Bridget, Mother Superior: (Geraldine McEwan) is the sadistic Sister Bridget, a softly-spoken, gentle-faced old woman, who commits acts of unbelieveable cruelty. As she inducts the new girls Margaret, Rose and Bernadette into the laundry, Sister Bridget fingers rolls of money appreciatively in a most un-Nun-like way and she punishes the girls through humiliating acts; in one scene Sister Bridget is cutting off Una's hair nonchalantly as she disciplines Bernadette and Crispina for talking out of turn. In another scene the Sister violently attacks Rose despite Bernadette being in the room. Clearly, Sister Bridget does not care who knows her real nature.
- Sister Jude (Frances Healy), Sister Clemantine (Eithne McGuinness) and Sister Augusta (Phyllis MacMahon) are all equally as guilty for the humiliating and sadistic tortures they inflict upon the girls they should be rehabilitating.
- Father Fitzroy (Daniel Costello)
[edit] Quotes
Bernadette: Having a baby's not a crime.
Rose: Having a baby before you're married is a mortal sin!
Bernadette: I'd commit any sin, mortal or otherwise, to get the hell out of here.
Margaret: Crispina, why did you want to kill yourself?
Bernadette: Jesus, that's a stupid thing to ask her in here, Elizabeth!
Margaret: I'm just trying to stop her from killing herself.
Bernadette: I know what you're trying to do. I just don't know why you're doing it.
Margaret: (she stops fighting Bernadette) You're a wicked bitch, you know that? You're a wicked thieving bitch! She had Crispina's Saint Christopher under her bed! The only thing that girl owns in the whole world and you stole it!
Crispina: You found my Saint Christopher. Thank you, thank you!
Margaret: (Margaret grabs Crispina roughly by the arm and points at Bernadette) Don't you understand? She stole it!
Crispina: Yeah, but you found it.
Margaret: Am I no only one who thinks that what she did was completely despicable?
(long silence)
Margaret: Oh, you can all just go to hell!
Crispina: You're not a Man of God! You're not a Man of God!
[edit] Trivia
- Peter Mullan has remarked that the film was initially made because victims of Magdalene Asylums had no closure. They had not received any recognition, compensation, or apology, and many remained lifelong devout Catholics [2].
- Former Magdalen inmate, Mary-Jo McDonagh, told director and writer Peter Mullan that the reality of the Magdalene Asylums was much worse than depicted in the film [3].
