With the Catholic Church under a dark cloud of sordid allegations in today’s world, another disturbing real-life tale, which exposes some of the cruelty inflicted by Church, has been made into a riveting movie.
Winner of the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 2002 Venice International Film Festival, The Magdalene Sisters, directed by Irish actor/director Peter Mullan (Orphans), charts several years in the young lives of four “fallen women” who were rejected by their families and abandoned to the mercy of the Catholic Church in 1960’s Ireland. These women were condemned to indefinite sentences of servitude in The Magdalene Laundries, convents that also served as a laundry services, to atone for their “sins.” Also known as the Magdalene Asylums, the last one in Ireland closed in 1996, and only since has the true horror of conditions in these institutions begun to emerge.
In her feature film debut, Irish actress Nora-Jane Noone plays Bernadette, an orphan who is sent to the Magdalene Asylums after being labeled a temptress for her beauty and indomitable spirit. Hollywood.com had a chance to sit down with Noone, who gave us her feelings on the movie’s subject matter and the Catholic Church in her delightful Irish brogue.
Can you explain a little about what the Magdalene Asylums were?
These were places where unwanted girls were brought. If a girl had a child out of marriage, if a girl was raped and it was deemed she gave a lad the wrong idea, if a girl was simple–they were sent away. There also weren’t any women’s prisons at that time, so criminals were brought there as well. And then there were girls in the asylum like my character–vivacious, pretty who were made out to be temptresses and who were sent away before they’d get into trouble. The only way to be taken out [of the asylums] was by a family member but many had no families comin’ for them. I think there were also quite a lot of girls committin’ suicide as well. Nobody really knows how the women died there ’cause nothing was ever said about it. And nobody questioned. It’s really scary ’cause it happened where I lived, where I grew up, just 40 years ago.
I read your father actually worked for one of the asylums when he was young.
He was only 13 and he would load the laundry on and off the trucks. He didn’t know anything about it then but he found out later on. Still, people in town would talk and whisper of what went on [in the asylums]. In my Granny’s time, she remembered girls escapin’, comin’ into town, bangin’ down doors, beggin’ to be taken in. And if they weren’t taken in then the guards would come and get them and put them back in. They’d only escape if they got help from someone in town.
How do you think you would have reacted to the restrictions of those times?
The Catholic schools I went to were very strict. I like to have fun but I would never cause trouble deliberately. Still, if I felt like I was gettin’ orders? Whoa! Don’t even go there. I don’t think I would have been a very good Catholic in those days.
One of the most horrifying things, besides the awful things the nuns did, was that the families of these girls sent them to these places in the first place, knowing they would never see them again.
You have to understand [Irish Catholics] were made to feel this was the right way, the only way [during the ’60s]. You just didn’t question the Church–ever. I mean, what if you were wrong? The worst would happen and you’d go to hell. They honestly thought that. And [if you questioned the Church], you’d also become an outcast from the society, from the community. A lot of people see this movie and say, “Don’t you think its anti-Catholic?” But it’s not. It’s not against the beliefs or anything like that. It’s just they [the nuns] were really practicin’ what they preached. It was sort of their duty to make sure they were doin’ their jobs, as twisted as they became. You or I can read the Gospel and take what we want from it. But there’s a lot of fire and brimstone in there and that’s what they took from it.
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Is Catholicism still that pervasive in Ireland today?
No, no, it’s changed an awful lot. I think in the very small towns and with the older people, like my grandparent’s generation, maybe that feeling is still there. But generally no, it’s changed overnight almost. It’s like we’ve come out of being a Third World country, if you know what I mean. People have the luxury of making their own decisions and relyin’ on themselves.
Did you have any idea what kind of controversy it would stir up?
No, not at all. I really didn’t know anything about the filmmakin’ process, how movies were made, what kind of reaction it would get. I was just in shock ’cause no one really told me what to expect. But everyone on the set knew that it was an important movie and we all really wanted it to get made.
What did it feel like when you got this part, your acting debut?
I just thought I’d go to the audition to see how far I’d get. I was in the middle of my exams, and I told my family if they ring up to tell me I got the part or didn’t get the part, don’t tell me ’cause I’d be too upset or too excited to ever get through my exams. The day I finished, I came home and went back around my house. There was balloons on the washin’ line and I thought, ‘Well, that’s a bit much.’ It was just exams, you know? But they had written across a piece of cloth, ‘Congratulations, Bernadette!’ And my family came out and I started cryin’. I just finished exams, so I was exhausted. Then reality sunk in and it was like, ‘Oh God, I’m goin’ to Scotland next week!’ I’ve been away on holidays and all, but that was the longest period I’d ever been away from home. So, I was really homesick. But at the same time, I was sayin’ “Pull yourself together, woman. You’re in a movie. Get on with it!”
But you’ve decided to pursue other avenues besides acting, right?
Yeah, I’m studying science in college. It’s kind of my safety net, if I have to go back to it. I can relax more knowing that I have something there behind me.
Science?
[Laughs] Well, science is about how things work and acting is about how people work. So there are some similarities.
Well, after the intensity of Magdalene Sisters, you might want to do a comedy next. Maybe with your kinsman Colin Farrell, eh?
All the girls go for him, don’t they? But at home, you know, he’s just like a typical Irish lad. I think he’s got a great attitude, doesn’t care what people think of him. And that’s the way it should be. People get so worked up about [celebrity fame]. He hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary, really. So what? He likes girls. He’s got an appetite. What young man doesn’t?
What do you hope people will learn from watching Magdalene Sisters?
I hope they realize it’s a true story, that it really happened and wasn’t made up just for the sake of a movie. It is real.
What do hope the Catholic Church learns from all of this?
I think they should learn to let things out into the open and admit that it happen and say they’re sorry.
The Magdalene Sisters is currently playing in limited theaters.
