SIC spoke with actor Cillian Murphy about “Little Things Like These”, a film focused on women victims of the Church in Ireland, which adapts the work of Claire Keegan, a finalist for the 2022 Booker Prize.
In 1985, at Christmas time, the peaceful routine of a coal seller in rural Ireland is shaken by what he witnesses. A woman forces her daughter to enter the convent. The scene torments him and leads him to relive the past. The mother was also a pregnant young woman, persecuted by a society dominated by the Catholic Church.
Cillian Murphy debuts as producer of the film “Little Things Like These”, which adapts the work of Claire Keegan, shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.
“I identified with the book when I read it and it never left my memory. It made such a strong impact. It seemed like I could see it in a cinematic way”, says Cillian Murphy, who in recent years has participated in hits such as “Oppenheimer” or “Peaky Blinders”.
The story rescues the Laundries of Mary Magdalene, religious institutions with state support that until close to the end of the 20th century exploited women who were deposited there to atone for sins, with the connivance of society.
“When I think about what this story is, what it tells, I get tremendously unnerved,” says actress Emily Watson. “There is a lot written about what happened in Ireland with the Church. Lots of confessions, articles and reports, but sometimes a book or a film can be a more useful or softer tool for seeing things”, considers Cillian Murphy.
The film was shot in real settings to give more authenticity to a drama that gives a voice to those who have been silenced.
