Small Things Like These

Coal and wood distributor Bill Furlong, a man of few words, lives with his wife and children in Wexford, Ireland, in the 1980s. It is almost Christmas, which means he is extra busy delivering briquettes and charcoal. During his delivery round, he also comes across a nunnery run by Mother Superior Mary. It is a so-called Magdalene convent, the place where unmarried pregnant women are housed to work all day in laundries. He is struck by how callously these ‘fallen’ women are treated by the nuns, bringing back memories of his own childhood. He never knew his father, so perhaps his mother too was in such a place.

In the 1990s, when it became widely known what abuses had taken place in Magdalene monasteries, the outrage was great. The Irish state and the Catholic Church deeply bowed their heads, offering financial compensation, but the damage had already been done. Claire Keegan wrote the novel Small Things Like These about it, Tim Mielants adapted it to film. With Cillian Murphy and Emily Watson.