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Small Things Like These invites audiences into the heart of 1985 Ireland, where Bill Furlong, a hardworking coal merchant, begins to question the mysteries surrounding his small town’s local convent. Set against a seemingly ordinary Christmas season backdrop, the film delves into a web of secrecy and hidden truths that threaten to unravel everything Furlong holds dear. As he grows suspicious of the convent’s Magdalene laundry, his search for answers leads him into the depths of Ireland’s complex and often troubling past.
Led by Cillian Murphy in his first film since his Oppenheimer success, Small Things Like These has been praised for its quiet yet powerful storytelling. It explores themes of morality, faith, and the power of small decisions. With its subdued yet gripping atmosphere, the movie poignantly reflects on the personal choices that can ripple outward, shaping not just individuals but communities and entire histories.
Is Small Things Like These Inspired From A True Story?
While the characters in Small Things Like These are fictional, the movie takes inspiration from one of Ireland’s most disturbing historical realities: the Magdalene laundries. These institutions were far from places of redemption. They were more like prisons for women who were considered to have strayed from the narrow path of societal expectations.
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The laundries, which existed from the 18th century until 1996, were notorious for housing women who had “fallen” in some way, whether they were unmarried mothers, orphaned girls, or those deemed “too promiscuous” for Irish society’s conservative standards.
Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy), the protagonist of the movie, is caught up in the harsh legacy of this system, as he grapples with the stigma of being the child of an unmarried mother. While his mother, Sarah, managed to escape the clutches of the Magdalene laundries, thousands of women were not so fortunate.
They were forced to live a life of confinement, doing unpaid labor under the watchful eyes of nuns, enduring physical and emotional hardships in silence. These women were often cut off from their families, their futures irreversibly altered.
The Magdalene laundries were a dark chapter in Ireland’s history, with an estimated 30,000 women and girls detained in such institutions. Small Things Like These shines a light on the lives of these women, using Bill’s story to bring the pain of this untold history to the surface. It explores both personal and societal consequences that continue to echo through Ireland’s past.
What Happened To The Magdalene Laundries?
The Magdalene laundries were a grim part of Ireland’s past, with their operations stretching into the late 20th century. Small Things Like These is set in New Ross, Co. Wexford, where one of these laundries once stood under the care of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
But here’s the kicker: while Small Things Like These shows the laundry still running in 1985, in reality, it closed its doors in 1967, leaving behind a dark legacy. Over the years, the societal tide began to shift, and women’s rights gained ground. The number of women sent to these laundries slowly dwindled until the last one was finally shuttered in 1996.
Fast forward to 2013, and the Irish government did something that should’ve happened much sooner: issued a formal apology to the women who endured abuse in these institutions. But the survivors aren’t done yet. They’re still fighting for justice and acknowledgement.
Some laundries were abandoned or demolished, but a new chapter is being written. Plans are underway to establish a remembrance center at the former laundry in Sean McDermott Street, Dublin, to ensure the real story is told, and future generations understand why it’s crucial to stand up against injustices like these.
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