“Small Things Like These” Movie Review – Spotlight Report
Between 1765 and 1998, tens of thousands of young Irish women were incarcerated in the Magdalene laundries, where they were abused and overworked as “penance” for prostitution, promiscuity or getting pregnant out of wedlock. This stain on the national conscience has been explored in films before, but director Tim Mielants has taken a radically different approach to the subject matter in Small Things Like These, his adaptation of Claire Keegan’s 2021 novella.
Coal merchant Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy) is a family man making his deliveries when he witnesses abuse at the local convent. The child of a single mother himself, but raised by a local philanthropist, his view on the girls in the laundries is more sympathetic than most of the locals, who are also terrified at the social consequences of speaking out against the church
It’s tempting to describe Small Things Like These as a sort of allegory for Ireland’s dawning awareness and subsequent change in its stance to the abuses of the laundries, which is usually the death knell for generating a compelling story. Allegories reduce characters to ciphers, mere pawns in the storyteller’s greater scheme to make their point. Luckily, Mielants is far more interested in Bill Furlong’s character than he is in merely pitting his film against a foe that’s already been vanquished. Credit is due to his direction, making what amounts to a small drama with almost no specific plot points into a gripping film that feels almost like a horror. Shot in a poverty-stricken 1980s Ireland during the Christmas season, it’s a dark, grimy film with an oppressive, chilling atmosphere. Doors creak, voices are hushed, fireplaces crackle without any warmth. There’s no holiday cheer to be found here.
At least as much credit is due to Cillian Murphy, who wrings every drop of character out of Bill. Clearly tormented by his own past, waking up in the night to stare out the window, taking pity on the local poor, Murphy plays Bill with a gravity that lends every minor expression weight. When he finally makes up his mind to do something, there’s no fanfare and no sense of contrivance, the dramatic importance of his actions is well and truly earned. Emily Watson does a striking job in a brief but critical role as the mother superior of the convent, where she makes a cordial fireside chat brim with almost as much menace as Count Orlock’s introduction in the recent adaptation of Nosferatu.
Small Things Like These is not a film that will please most audiences. Its minimalist narrative, curt dialogue and careful pace are not the stuff of blockbusters. What it is is a small, heavy, thoughtful drama that assiduously puts you in the mind of its protagonist with barely a word to spare.
