Small Things Like These (2024, dir. Tim Mielants)

by Jack Martin | Nov 3, 2024

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 98 mins

UK Distributor: Lionsgate

UK Release Date: 1 November 2024

WHO’S IN SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE?

Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Emily Watson, Clare Dunne, Helen Behan, Liadán Dunlea, Agnes O’Casey, Mark McKenna, Zara Devlin, Louis Kirwan

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Tim Mielants (director), Enda Walsh (writer), Matt Damon, Catherine Magee, Alan Moloney, Cillian Murphy, Jeff Robinov and Drew Vinton (producers), Senjan Jansen (composer), Frank van den Eeden (cinematographer), Alain Dessauvage (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

In 80s Ireland, a coalman (Murphy) makes a shocking discovery…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE?

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This quote, commonly attributed to Irish statesman Edward Burke (though it’s since been proven he did not actually say this), is fundamental to understanding the muted drama of Small Things Like These. Like Claire Keegan’s novel on which it is based, director Tim Mielants’ film shows the radical power of what it is to do the right thing underneath the grasp of unchecked tyranny, as well as the psychological fallout of being complacent within a society where such terrible things aren’t exactly being kept a close secret.

Since the now-disputed quoter Burke was also Irish, it also ties in neatly to the film’s Ireland setting, specifically during a winter within a small village in the 80s. Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy) is a coal merchant who regularly delivers his product to several homes and institutions throughout the area, but as we see in scenes with co-workers and even his family, including wife Eileen (Eileen Walsh), he is somewhat distant, clearly haunted by something which, as we see over the course of childhood flashbacks throughout the film, he hasn’t entirely gotten over. Things come to a head when, during a routine coal drop off at the local convent, he is alarmed by the cruel mistreatment of the young women supposedly sent there for rehabilitation, under the watchful but ultimately cruel eye of the Mother superior Sister Mary (Emily Watson). Bill must now wrestle with his conscience about what doing something about the convent’s blatant abuse might mean for not just him and his family, but for the town as a whole.

To return to that quote, Bill is the “good man” who decides whether or not to stand up against the cruelty of those in power, and in doing so determines if the antagonising forces will get away with their actions, which in this case amounts to partaking in the scandalous Magdalene laundries scheme. Such a system, designed to “correct” young promiscuous or pregnant women via a workhouse lifestyle and putting their babies up for adoption, is a deeply upsetting subject for a film like this, especially as it gets into the mob-like rule that this convent has over this deeply Catholic town, to where even those who are fully aware of the cruelty refuse to speak up out of fear for retaliation or damnation. While Small Things Like These doesn’t exactly go to great lengths to show the full extent of this institution – the most we see of the convent’s abuse is a young woman being locked in the outside coalhouse during the freezing night – it presents enough information about the horrendous off-screen treatment to create a tense and slightly chilling atmosphere, particularly whenever we see the subtle bullying behind the eyes of its corrupt Mother superior (as whom Emily Watson delivers one of her most chilling performances in a long while).

Mielants, along with screenwriter Enda Walsh who adapts Keegan’s book with its subtle power intact, adopt a quiet anger when it comes to depicting the behind-the-scenes evil behind the governing force in this town, but they also acknowledge that to protest in silence isn’t enough. The crux of the drama lies on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy’s Bill, who throughout the film struggles with his inner morals as he’s intimidated and at one point even bribed by the convent to stay quiet on what he has witnessed. Through this character, who often doesn’t have much to say and even then is fairly cryptic about his true feelings, Small Things Like These conveys the psychological torment of being powerless to stand up and do what it right, and Murphy’s performance is striking in what he conveys exclusively through his piercing eyes, for we see a truly conflicted individual who must weigh the pros and cons of letting the convent continue with their dirty work.

The film certainly has its heart in the right place, and in its most powerful moments delivers a pretty hefty emotional blow, but there are certain things holding it back from being truly outstanding. For one, it is perhaps a bit too muted for its own good, as it’s the kind of film that doesn’t make certain plot developments immediately obvious, which on the one hand is admirable since they’re clearly respecting the audience’s ability to pick up on its storytelling, but on the other can make it a bit difficult to tell where we’re at in the overall story. There was a point during this film, shortly after the first major flashback, where I finally realised we were watching the main character as a child and hadn’t suddenly switched focus to another concurrent character (in my defence, there is another young boy introduced early on that clearly comes from a place of malnourishment or abuse, so I genuinely thought we were following him for a little bit until the truth dawned on me). Either way, the film’s overly subtle nature did make it trickier than usual for me to determine what the film was trying to do and how it was doing it, though I put this one more on my personal autism-related difficulties rather than any genuine criticism.

For the stern and powerful drama that it is, though, Small Things Like These is undeniably affective. It’s a poignant, emotionally rich and in one or two cases even mildly uplifting drama that exposes the cruelty of this branch within major organised religion, not just in their practises within the Magdalene laundries, but in their fierce control over a town to where its inhabitants are scared to stand up to the might of the church. If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing, then it is essential for at least one person to shake the system, however minute of an action it may be.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Small Things Like These is a quietly powerful, though occasionally overly subtle, Irish drama that exposes the cruelty of the infamous Magdalene laundries as well as the fierce control that such religious institutions have over their communities, the latter represented by a strikingly conflicted central performance by Cillian Murphy.