Line #10 YMMV/TheMagdaleneSisters


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2	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: While the film is intended as a scathing commentary on the abuse of the Catholic church in Ireland, many viewers have interpreted a feminist Aesop in there too; depicting how women are victim blamed for rape, considered DefiledForever by some (even their families!) if they have a baby outside of marriage or are treated as dangerous for being beautiful.
3	* {{Anvilicious}}: Men can easily abuse women, but in most cases the namely women will become the scapegoat. And yes, the church is an abusive {{Jerkass}} and slaver!
4	* CatharsisFactor:
5	** [[spoiler: Bernadette finally having enough of the nuns, determined to escape and even chasing after them with a candlestick to make sure they don't come after her and Rose]].
6	** [[spoiler:After practically every character treating the girls abominably throughout the film, Bernadette and Rose find Bernadette's cousin and beg her for help -- and she more than provides, taking them in and giving them all the resources they'll need to escape the grasp of the church and start new lives]].
7	* DesignatedHero:
8	** Margaret slips into this a few times. She does have some sympathy, taking Crispina under her wing. But when she finds out Bernadette took Crispina's St Christopher medal she physically attacks her and is enraged the other girls don't join in. She even yells at Crispina for not being mad at Bernadette, Crispina only being glad that the medal was found.
9	** Bernadette is an even more strong example of this, by shutting herself off from the other girls in an attempt to cope. She knew that Crispina's St Christopher was the only thing giving her hope, but she keeps it from her even after Crispina attempts suicide twice. She later tells an elderly dying inmate who wants her to stay by her bedside that nobody cares about her and that she should [[BrutalHonesty hurry up and die.]]
10	* FridgeBrilliance: Bernadette's epilogue says that she was married and divorced three times. Divorce was illegal in Ireland until 1995 but Bernadette moved to ''Scotland''. Perhaps she even moved there to escape an unhappy marriage?
11	* FridgeHorror: Margaret's cousin apparently got away scot-free with raping her; we never see him get punished, and their families may well have believed she led him on. Now that he's seen there are no repercussions for his actions, how long before he does it again?
12	* HarsherInHindsight:
13	** Rose's baby being taken away is bound to make newer viewers even more fearful since later years revealed that the church didn't adopt all the babies out, and many were just killed and buried in unmarked graves. [[spoiler: The epilogue thankfully reveals that Rose was reunited with him years later]]. TheNewTens continued to reveal even more scandalous secrets about such cases in Ireland.
14	** This is a film about the victims of sexual abuse, and it's distributed by Miramax Films. The company owned by Harvey Weinstein - whose sex crimes became public in 2017.
15	** Shortly before this film was released, sexual abuse by the church in America was also discovered (as depicted in the film ''{{Film/Spotlight}}'' in 2015).
16	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
17	** Bernadette's DueToTheDead when she sees that Katy has died in her sleep. Although she told the old woman to "hurry up and die", she kisses her on the forehead.
18	** [[spoiler: Rose telling Bernadette's cousin her real name. She says it cheerfully - realising she can use it again]].
19	** [[spoiler: Rose's final scene shows her telling Bernadette to write to her. She also remained Christian until her death - showing that she wasn't fully broken by the cruel treatment]].
20	* HilariousInHindsight: Anne-Marie Duff, Nora-Jane Noone and Dorothy Duffy would all later make guest appearances on ''Series/HolbyCity''. Dorothy's was even as a single pregnant woman!
21	* JerkassWoobie:
22	** Bernadette. You can understand her frosty attitude when you consider she's an orphan and only been sent there because she talked to boys too much. Add that to the crap she has to go through in the laundry and you still want to hug her even when she's snapping at people.
23	** Katy also qualifies. She was signed in as a young girl and stays in the laundry until her death as an old woman. She is cruel to the younger girls and rats out Bernadette to the nuns, but as a product of years of UsefulNotes/StockholmSyndrome she truly believes the nuns know best and are kind and Godly at heart. When it's revealed how long she's been there, and the tragic circumstances of her family giving her up and her losing her baby, it's clear she's not so different.
24	* NarmCharm: Bernadette's final scene with the nuns is a little dramatic - and bound to make viewers laugh when one thinks that these nuns have no clue who she is or why she's doing it - but damn if her defiance isn't ''awesome''.
25	* NightmareFuel: Bernadette's TraumaticHaircut at the hands of the nuns is even more violent than Una's. She struggles the whole time and is left bleeding because of it.
26	* RetroactiveRecognition:
27	** Nora-Jane Noone (Bernadette) made her film debut here and would be more recognisable from films such as ''Film/TheDescent'', a brief stint in ''Series/CoronationStreet'' and an appearance in the Oscar-winning film ''{{Film/Brooklyn}}''.
28	** Anne-Marie Duff quickly rose through the ranks and became known for ''Shameless'', ''Film/NowhereBoy'', ''{{Film/Suffragette}}'' and of course marrying Creator/JamesMcAvoy.
29	* TearJerker: The sheer emotional anguish these girls go through is enough to make you furious and miserable at the same time. [[spoiler:The revelation of Crispina's fate -- death from anorexia at just 24 years old -- is a gut punch, and even though Margaret, Bernadette and Rose manage to escape the laundry and go on to lead full lives, they're obviously mentally and emotionally scarred by their time there, and some viewers might not be happy that (considering what the nuns did to her) Rose remains a devout Catholic until her death.]]
30	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Una's story is interesting enough for a film on its own; disowned completely by her family, she tries to escape and is actually brought back to the laundry by her father. Then after a TimeSkip it's revealed she has decided to become a nun because she has no prospects otherwise. But she's entirely a supporting character.
31	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Much like ''Film/RequiemForADream'', ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' and many more - watching the film will be an emotional test for a lot of viewers.
32	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Margaret when her brother signs her out. The little speech she gives to the rest of the girls comes across as incredibly callous - since she now gets to be freed and it seems like she's rubbing it in their faces that they can't be. Then she snaps at her brother - who has done nothing wrong to her at all - "you didn't grow up fast enough!"
33	* TheWoobie:
34	** Rose and Crispina, mothers of children they were forced to give up. Crispina only ever got to see her son from a distance at the laundry gates and Rose [[spoiler: isn't reunited with hers until he's thirty years old]].
35	** Margaret, raped at a wedding by her own cousin. She is taken away to the laundry by her own father the very next day, as her family believes she coerced him into sex acts.
36	** Una as well, who manages to escape and gets dragged back to the laundry by her father - telling her she's disowned by the family. She ends up becoming a nun herself.

Context YMMV / TheMagdaleneSisters