Comprehensive information and links about The Magdalene Sisters

The Magdalene Sisters is a 2002 film, written and directed by Peter Mullan, about women sent to Magdalene Asylums, otherwise known as the Magdalen Laundries, because they were deemed to have done some sexual wrong.

The film

‘It [the film] was initially made because the story of the Magdalene women was unfinished. They hadn't received any recognition, they hadn't received any compensation, and they hadn't been given an apology. And they remained devout Catholics. [Only one of the three principal characters of the film is said to have done so. Though nothing is said about the others in this respect, at least two of the four subjects of the documentary "Sex in a Cold Climate," which inspired the film, left the church, towards which they express undisguised hostility.] So initially, it was as a means to get their story in the public domain. (Peter Mullan – www.themoviechicks.com)

The film focuses on the girls’ perspective of what happened to them during the time they spent in a Magdalene laundry. The plot follows three young women Margaret, Rose and Bernadette from the first scenes of the film where they are shown committing the so called crimes for which they were put into the laundries through to their arrival at the laundry, their experiences there and the different ways in which they eventually leave the laundry. After arriving at the laundry, the story of another girl Crispina joins the stories of the other three. The film depicts the abuse inflicted on them by the nuns and the priest. Similarities between the film and reality, the work women were expected to do, society’s attitudes costumes, and language.

The brutality and abuse of the nuns towards the girls in reality was a lot worse than what was depicted in the film.The main characters in the film were not based on true people however their stories and experiences were based on victims accounts.In reality the girls would not have talked to each other at all even at night whereas in the film, although seldom during the day, the girls did have conversations.