Dir. Peter Mullan, 2002, UK/Ireland, 119 mins
Cast: Geraldine McEwan, Anne-Marie Duff, Nora-Jane Noone, Dorothy Duffy, Eileen Walsh
Peter Mullan's controversial drama received a glowing reception at Cannes 2002 and went on to introduce a worldwide audience to one of the darker recesses of recent Irish history. The Magdalene Sisters is based on the testimonies of some of the 3,000 girls who were placed in the 'care' of the priests and nuns who ran the 'Magdalene Laundries' during the middle part of the Twentieth Century. The laundries, however, were little more than institutionalised slave labour for young women abandoned by their families because they were deemed 'impure'.
Mullan's film concentrates on the stories of three girls; Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff), Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone), and Rose (Dorothy Duffy). Margaret is there because she fell pregnant after being raped at a family wedding. Morally and legally unable to have an abortion, she gives birth to the child only to then have her priest take the baby away and recommend that she be placed with the Sisters. Bernadette, meanwhile, is wicked because the local boys find her attractive, while another inmate, Cripina (played with heartbreaking pathos by Eileen Walsh) is mentally-retarded and, it is feared, may be taken advantage of.
The institution is presided over by Sister Bridget, played by Geraldine McEwan on cackling form, more akin to her role as the witch in Robin Hood than as Miss Jean Brodie. The ritual humiliation she inflicts on the girls is uncomfortable to watch but it would be a mistake to deem her as evil incarnate, as some critics have stated. This woman, in her own way, is as much a victim of the institutionalised sexual repression of a nation governed by its religion as the girls she torments. She governs unquestioningly, not acknowledging her sadism as the sublimation of her own denied sexual desires but rather as the means by which she can save the girl's souls. By enforcing punishment, however, she punishes herself. These are not the actions of an 'evil' woman but one who is self-righteous in the unshakable belief that God's will must be carried out at whatever cost.
The real crime of the girls in her care is that they dare to question the voice of God as relayed through Sister Bridget and her fellow nuns and priests. They don't believe that they are wicked and they do not intend to spend the rest of their lives in what is virtually a prison and so set about hatching escape plans.
The subject matter is strong and full credit to Mullan for tackling such an emotive and still controversial chapter in Ireland's history. The Irish Catholic Church has reformed enormously over the past twenty years but the fact that this was happening less than three generations ago on our own doorstep defies belief and leaves a lot of questions to be answered about the ethics of the state religion. The three girls at the centre of the film are strong characters who you sense will survive their ordeal. Others, such as the poor, tragic Crispina, were not so lucky.
If anything, The Magdalene Sisters is not hard-hitting enough. Mullan occasionally mistakes 'playing-it-for-laughs' for humour, and very often the camaraderie between the girls plays out as a Girls Own adventure. He compensates by overstating the melodrama. In one scene, Bernadette's head is shaved and the camera goes into a close-up of her eye, lashes encrusted with blood. This shot is not necessary; the brutal scene of the nuns forcibly shearing her of her hair is enough. This is one film where less would be more, while a documentary-style of filming would perhaps be more appropriate.
However, with a strong story and moving performances from all the cast, The Magdalene Sisters is certainly worth a viewing, both for its artistic merits and for the issues it raises.
Jean Lynch
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