Small Things Like These

In a small Irish town in 1985, a coal merchant finds a girl in the coal shed of the convent he delivers to. His wife and everyone in the town tell him not to get involved. The film takes place almost entirely inside this man, with very little plot. The narrative draws its pressure not from the convent but from how easy silence is for everyone; flashbacks to his own mother's past prepare his decision. Tim Mielants directed, with Cillian Murphy starring and producing. It is adapted from Claire Keegan's short novel. A real warning: the subject is the Magdalene laundries, where tens of thousands of women and girls in Ireland were held and made to work, the last closing in 1996. The film does not explain this; it assumes you know.