12/46
He didn’t expect the rights to be available, but called Claire Keegan’s agent, who told him they were
Line of Events
In 1985, devoted father Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets of the local monastery and uncovers shocking truths of his own. While Cillian Murphy was discussing working with Tim Mielants again, Murphy’s wife suggested adapting the novel Small Things Like These. After acquiring the rights with his producing partner Alan Moloney, Murphy pitched the idea to Matt Damon, who had set up a studio with Ben Affleck on the set of that film.
And the children who were taken from them
Damon liked the story and the two set about making the film. Eileen Furlong: If you want to get on in this life, there are some things you have to ignore. Dedicated to the over 56,000 young women who were placed in Magdalene Asylums for «penance and rehabilitation» between the years 1922 and 1998.
Appears in 60 Minutes: Red Sea Crisis/The False Electoral College/Searching for Cillian Murphy (2024)
If Oppenheimer felt like the biggest possible stage for Cillian Murphy as an acting giant, then Small Things Like These feels like a showcase for his ability to convey the most complicated emotions with the subtlest of facial expressions. It’s a very quiet film and I found it very powerful, especially because of all the things you don’t see on screen. It transports you to that time period very effectively and as someone who actually knows nothing about that part of history, I found it very authentic.
I can imagine some people finding it too emotionally distant, but I always wanted to explore the emotions it was trying to convey
As I said, the film is very quiet with a minimum of flashy images or dialogue and while that often worked, I felt it compromised the pacing somewhat. For a mere 90-minute film, it felt longer, which in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, but after the slow build, I probably would have liked a bit more from the ending. Small Things Like These feels like a passion project through and through, using the simplest of cinematic techniques to tell its story with great impact.
