THE MAGDALENE SISTERS
Directed & Written by: Peter Mullan.
Produced by: Frances Higson.
Director of Photography: Nigel Willoughby.
Edited by: Colin Monie.
Music by: Craig Armstrong.
Released by: Miramax.
Country of Origin: UK/Ireland. 119 min. Rated: R.
With: Geraldine McEwan, Anne-Marie Duff, Dorothy Duffy, Nora-Jane Noone & Eileen Walsh.
Special Features: Original Expose Sex In A Cold Climate. French Audio. French & Spanish subtitles.

In an opening sequence set at a country wedding celebration, director Mullan clearly establishes the repressive conservative culture of 1960s Ireland. While the wedding party is dancing downstairs, teenaged Margaret (Duff) is raped by a cousin in a bedroom. After she confides to a friend, the news spreads like wildfire. But it is not the rapist who is punished but Margaret, the object of her father’s anger. In the morning, she is taken to the Magdalene Asylum run by the Sisters of Mercy order, where she will work without pay seven days a week in its laundries. Money-hoarding Sister Bridget (McEwan) runs the asylum as a prison with military precision. The actress’s sharp portrayal catapults her to the upper tier of female villains. With a gleam in her eye, she beats the pride out of the beautiful and vain Bernadette (Noone, a cross between Angelina Jolie and Madonna). Another arrival is Rose (Duffy), an unwed mother whose newborn boy has been forcibly taken from her by her parents and priest. How the girls endure the brutality and sexual humiliation is what makes the film riveting. Because of the film’s angry condemnation of the abuse of power and the hypocrisy of Irish Catholic culture, the world of the asylum is often portrayed in black and white. The girls are well-rounded characters, while the sisters are depicted as one-dimensional villains. Yet, Mullan comically shows a different side to Sister Bridget during a screening of the maudlin The Bells of St. Mary’s. The bold cast, including Walsh as the mentally impaired Crispina, more than meets the emotional challenges of the well-structured, three-act script. This is one of the finest acting ensembles of the last several years. A hard-hitting, visceral film. KT
August 1, 2003

DVD Extras: The compelling Sex In A Cold Climate is definitely worth seeing. Produced by Steven Humphries, the hour-long documentary features interviews with women who were inmates of the Magdalene Asylums in Ireland during the latter part of the 20th century. Each woman’s story is intimate and moving, and some of the experiences they speak of are specifically used in the film. One woman mentions being sexually abused by a priest and then accusing him of being unholy, a scene depicted in the movie. Actual footage is shown of the women and their surroundings, including footage of them working. We learn that some women were sent to the laundries merely for being “too pretty.” The documentary, however, does not just focus on the lives of women in the Magdalene Laundries, but also of life in the orphanage and convent. After watching the documentary, it is apparent that The Magdalene Sisters is an accurate portrayal of these asylums. Lisette Johnson
April 5, 2004