Peter Mullan
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Filmography
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The reason for that, aside from Dench's acting, is the strength of her story, which has parallels to the tales told in Peter Mullan 's considerably more savage 2002 feature, "The Magdalene Sisters."
The nuns' cruelty to the younger Philomena is akin to what we saw in Peter Mullan's "The Magdalene Sisters" (who are even cited in one scene) and it opens the door for Sixsmith's questioning of the place of religion in modern society.
The depiction of events at the convent brings to mind Peter Mullan's poignant and unflinching 2002 film The Magdalene Sisters which revealed the inhuman treatment of large numbers of "fallen women" in Irish Catholic asylums where they worked in profit-making laundries as virtual slaves.
Star Steve Coogan (various Alan Partridge series and movies) and Jeff Pope ("Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman") have adapted Sixmith's book 'The Lost Child of Philomena Lee' as an odd couple road movie with flashbacks recalling Peter Mullen's 2002 Venice Film Festival winner "The Magdalene Sisters."
Though it flickers with the fury that coursed through Peter Mullan’s The Magdalene Sisters , another film about this chapter in U.K. history, Philomena ultimately strives to be a tale of forgiveness.
Novitiate (2017)
Directed by Margaret Betts
influenced by The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Characters Themes
Her performance immediately joins the all-time great screen depictions of domineering clergywomen — right up there with the late Geraldine McEwan in “The Magdalene Sisters” and Agata Kulesza in last year’s Sundance-premiered “The Innocents.”
Missing the sexual hysteria of Mexican remake Muchachas in Uniform (1951), or the Powell and Pressburger classic Black Narcissus (1947), and avoiding plenty of vile abuses as those brought against the captive young wards of 2002’s The Magdalene Sisters (even Nicloux’s remake of The Nun presents as seedier than this) lends Betts’ film a sometimes-neutered tone, perhaps to build sympathy for the plight of the nuns and the limited capacity Vatican II’s revisions afforded them.
This is not like The Magdalene Sisters, the 2003 film set in a 1960s Irish girls school (run by nuns and priests) that focused on the brutalization of women in a strict Catholic environment.
I hate movies about priests, nuns, delusional dogma and religious obsession of any kind, but a startling, powerful, keenly nuanced and beautifully made film about young girls struggling to become nuns under anti-diluvian conditions ranks high up there with The Magdalene Sisters and Black Narcissus as an unforgettable portrait of spirituality under stress.
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
influenced The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Visuals
Following the story of three composite girls (mother out of wedlock Rose (Dorothy Duffy); too-flirtatious Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone); and Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff), raped by a cousin at a wedding), the picture is something of a boot camp drama--complete with dressings-down and sadistic drilling--grafted to a concentration camp melodrama culminating in an involuntary shearing that finds Mullan indulging in a distracting nod to Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc.
The Magdalene Sisters is a horror movie—in some ways it reminds me of Peter Walker's widely reviled English shockers House of Whipcord (1973) and Frightmare (1974), which examined the demonic energy released when the religiously repressed ran straight into the sexual revolution.
The Two Popes (2019)
Directed by Fernando Meirelles
influenced by The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Themes
The Two Popes is a far cry from critical Peter Mullan’s The Magdalene Sisters or Pablo Larrain’s The Club, but it benefits from tackling difficult subjects, but packaging them in a manner that will have broad appeal.
The Two Popes is a far cry from the deconstruction of the institutions of the church seen in films such as Peter Mullan's Golden Lion winner The Magdalene Sisters or the Berlin Grand Prix laureate The Club.
Brisk, confident, and atmospheric, Mounia Meddour’s feature debut “Papicha” promptly brings to mind certain female driven films of the 21st century, centered on young women’s camaraderie, resistance and unique struggles—movies like Deniz Gamze Ergüven ’s moody “ Mustang ,” Margaret Betts ’ somber “ Novitiate ,” Peter Mullan ’s devastating “ The Magdalene Sisters ” and even Talya Lavie ’s darkly comedic “ Zero Motivation .”
MacDonald and Reid are both very convincing and likeable in their roles and Noone continues to impress after her impressive debut in The Magdalene Sisters.
Wild cards to the group are Holly, (Nora-Jane Noone, "The Magdalene Sisters"), a young daredevilish type, and Sam (MyAnna Buring), Rebecca's younger half-sister who is a med student.
In the simple set-up, six young women, including Nora-Jane Noone ( The Magdalene Sisters ) go spelunking in an unmarked, unmapped cave.
The ringleader is Juno (Natalie Mendoza), who's somewhat arrogant about the great adventurer she is, or pretends to be; she even has an apprentice of sorts, the spiky-haired wild card Holly (Nora-Jane Noone, from The Magdalene Sisters).
Once at the asylum, the girls come under the vicious humiliation of Sister Bridget, played in a brilliant bit of casting by Geraldine McEwan, the sweet, cheeky woman from Kenneth Branagh's Henry V and Peter Chan's The Love Letter.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Directed by Miloš Forman
influenced The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Characters
Later, Sr. Bridget (Geraldine McEwan), the sadistic nun in charge of the asylum — whom even favorable reviews routinely compare with the infamous Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — smilingly confesses a lifelong love of cinema.
Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)
Directed by Aisling Walsh
influenced by The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Themes
Skillfully and humanely handled by director Aisling Walsh, the film has more conviction than others in its family of films such as The Magdalene Sisters or Conspiracy of Silence and deserves to be seen.
With impressive acting and a powerful script, this is basically The Magdalene Sisters meets Dead Poets Society – it would be uplifting if it wasn’t so damn harrowing and depressing.
As for the other major actor, Mullan is great as usual, but as always his appearance only reminds me that I would prefer he be behind the camera as well (it's been a long five years since he last helmed the astonishing The Magdalene Sisters ).
Mullan (a director in his own right on such fine films as The Magdalene Sisters) exudes compassion as Jack's caseworker but he also basks in bit of pride over the makeover he has helped orchestrate.
Almost cartoonish in her spitefulness, her most astonishing moment comes on a Christmas day, when she gives the girls a "present," in the form of a film, namely, The Bells of St. Mary's.
Not since Jennifer Jason Leigh wailed her way through that nine-minute "Take Me Back" in Georgia has a scene marshaled so much force out of simple repetition.
As a director, he own work has ranged from the bitterly amusing (“Orphans”) to the enraged (“The Magdalene Sisters”).
It might have been in " Trainspotting ," " My Name Is Joe ," " The Magdalene Sisters ," " Young Adam " or even playing a death eater in the latest "Harry Potter."
Mentoring is a consistent theme, Eilis guided by the loving hand of her selfless sister, taken under the wing of her worldly cabinmate during her crossing, trained in customer service skills by Miss Fortini (Jessica Paré, AMC's 'Mad Men') at the upscale Brooklyn department store that is her U.S. employer, outfitted and made up for a dance by giggling rooming house boarders Diana (Eve Macklin) and Patty (Emily Bett Rickards, TV's 'Arrow'), advised in affairs of the heat by widowed boarder Sheila (Nora-Jane Noone, "The Magdalene Sisters," "The Descent") and kept on a moral path by approving house owner Mrs. Kehoe (Julie Walters, Masterpiece's 'Indian Summers').
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
Directed by Ronald Neame
influenced The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Geraldine McEwan, best known for her title performance in the 1978 television mini-series, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", gives an award-deserving performance with her portrayal of the malevolent matron, Sister Bridget.
Things don't get any less complicated for young John or Mimi when his birth mother, Julia (Anne-Marie Duff of The Magdalene Sisters and The Last Station), re-enters the picture.
The Secret Scripture (2017)
Directed by Jim Sheridan
influenced by The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Themes
Adapted from the book by Sebastian Barry , the story deals with subject matter that has already been tackled with more heartbreaking humour in Philomena and more biting fury in The Magdalene Sisters .
That money would be much better spent on a night at home with microwave popcorn, a bottle of wine, the classics: Song for a Raggy Boy/The Magdalene Sisters … and, most likely, a lifetime of therapy.
He unfortunately drops the ball at the very end by using the old Animal House "where are they now?" title cards, but such a device is a small quibble.
I can think of religiously themed films more profoundly oppressive to Catholic sensibilities (e.g., The Last Temptation of Christ), and more searing indictments of corruption and abuse within the Church (e.g., The Magdalene Sisters).