The Magdalene Sisters
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| The Magdalene Sisters | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster |
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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) |  30 August 2002 (premiere at VFF) 25 October, 2002 21 February 2003 21 April 2003 1 August 2003 |
| Running time | 119 min. |
| Country | U.K. / Ireland |
| Language | English |
| 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 in Ireland. The film is a fictionalized account loosely based on true stories of the girls sent to the asylums. Peter Mullan has remarked that the film was initially made because victims of Magdalene Asylums had received no closure in the form of recognition, compensation, or apology, and many remained lifelong devout Catholics.[1] Former Magdalen inmate Mary-Jo McDonagh told Mullan that the reality of the Magdalene Asylums was much worse than depicted in the film.[2]
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[edit] Synopsis
In Ireland at the time the film is set, 'fallen women' were considered sinners who needed to be redeemed. The film follows the stories of four young women - Margaret, Rose, Bernadette and Crispina - who are all forced by their families or caretakers to go to the Magdalene Asylum. Each girl suffers at the hands of Sister Bridget, the Mother Superior of the Order running the Magdalene Asylum. It is never obvious in the film whether Sister Bridget is purely being cruel for the sake of it, or whether she truly believes that the girls are sinners who need to be treated badly to be redeemed.
Sister Bridget is extremely cruel: after cutting off Mary's hair, Sister Bridget laughs as the girl picks up her shorn locks, saying "What are you doing that for girl? You won't need that anymore!". She whips Rose with her belt for daring to ask if she may send her son a birthday card despite the fact that Bernadette is in the doorway and can see it all. Sister Bridget also severely beats Bernadette for trying to escape and forces the girl to see herself, bloodied and bruised, in a mirror to 'destroy her vanity'.
Sister Bridget gets her comeuppance at the end of the film when Bernadette and Rose escape, trashing her study in search for the key to the asylum door. Bernadette wrestles with Sister Bridget for the key and threatens the Nun's life by pressing a pair of scissor's to the old woman's throat. Sister Bridget eventually lets go of the key and the two girls escape from her clutches.
It is unknown what becomes of any of the nuns in the film after the girls leave the asylum by the late 1960s. However, it is noted in the epilogue to the film that the last Magdalene asylum closed in 1996.
[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, is still a virgin. Bernadette makes a disastrous attempt to escape from the asylum shortly after she arrives and has her hair cut off in punishment.
- 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. She is also mentally disabled. 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.[3].
- Margaret/Elizabeth (Anne-Marie Duff): Margaret is sent to the laundry after being raped by her cousin at a family wedding. She takes Crispina under her wing, despite Crispina being the longer-serving inmate, and tries to ensure Crispina's safety, although her efforts cause several harsh consequences for Crispina. 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 favors to Father Fitzroy, she slips poison ivy in with his personal laundry to get back at him. She is eventually freed when her younger brother comes to collect her.
- 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 the laundry already has a girl named Rose. Rose becomes increasingly resentful of her lack of freedom after Sister Bridget denies her the chance to send her son a birthday card. After she is severely beaten by Sister Bridget for talking to Crispina's sister and son, she agrees to escape with Bernadette.
- 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 warns her never to come home. 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.
- Sister Bridget, Mother Superior|Sister Bridget, Mother Superior: (Geraldine McEwan) plays the sadistic Sister Bridget, a softly-spoken, gentle-faced old woman, who commits acts of unbelieveable cruelty. Money-hungry, she relishes counting the profits from the laundry--profits that never get distributed to the girls and women who do all the work. She often 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.
- Sister Jude (Frances Healy), Sister Clemantine (Eithne McGuinness) and Sister Augusta (Phyllis MacMahon) also abuse and humiliate their charges, frequently forcing them to submit to sexual humiliation.
- Father Fitzroy (Daniel Costello) rapes Crispina and has her committed to a mental asylum once it is found out.
[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] External links
- Official Site
- The Magdalene Sisters at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Magdalene Sisters at the Internet Movie Database
| Preceded by Monsoon Wedding |
Golden Lion winner 2002 |
Succeeded by The Return |
