Based on the novel by Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These
is a quietly profound and meaningful film that shows us the story as it unfolds rather than tells it. Through well-placed flashbacks and a kind-hearted protagonist in Cillian Murphy’s Bill Furlong, director Tim Mielants’ film is not only a loyal movie adaptation — thanks to Enda Walsh’s lovely script — but a poignant story about the way the threat of powerful institutions keeps people from saying or doing anything to help out of fear. Mielants’ film does a lot with little dialogue, setting the stage for something rich and thought-provoking.
The brave have much to lose, and Small Things Like These is effective in its handling of Bill’s story. A coal merchant, Bill delivers bags of it to various people and locations in his small Irish town. At home, he’s got five girls and a wife, Eileen (Eileen Walsh), to care for. The family gets by and often struggles financially, especially around Christmas, but Bill is haunted by Sarah (Zara Devlin), a young woman at a Magdalene Laundry, an institution run by Catholic nuns, who begs for his help one day after Bill wanders inside.
Small Things Like These Is Rich Storytelling
Bill is warm, soft-hearted, and kind. He mostly keeps to himself, but we can see inklings of Eileen’s frustration with him in his refusal to open up. Meeting Sarah brings Bill back to his past, and it’s here that the film’s flashbacks weave their way into the story. Mielants deftly handles these moments and, though it takes a bit for us to settle into the story, we begin to understand more of it through exceptionally staged scenes and interactions.
Small Things Like These is not a film that’s interested in spoon-feeding us information; it asks us to focus and pay attention, to be patient along its journey. The emotional payoff is earned by the end, and the tension is slowly built throughout the film so that when a confrontation between Bill and Sister Mary, the convent’s Mother superior (Chernobyl‘s Emily Watson), happens — niceties with underlying threats never spoken aloud — it gave me chills. The film is cutting in its exploration of our responsibilities in a society that covers things up and has innocents pay the price.
…Small Things Like These imagines what someone who acts upon the morals everyone else claims to have would do in this situation.
Bill, sensing something is wrong from the start and even seeing it with his own eyes, grapples with what to do. We watch the conflict play out on his face and in his body language. His mind is ill at ease, while others suggest he should stay out of things that don’t directly concern him. In this instance, Bill can draw upon his own experiences growing up with a mother who had him out of wedlock, but who was taken care of by Mrs. Wilson (Michelle Fairley) and Ned (Mark McKenna), who worked for Mrs. Wilson, after his mother’s death.
In many ways, Small Things Like These imagines what someone who acts upon the morals everyone else claims to have would do in this situation. It’s an ideal to some extent, but a palpable one as it underscores societal consent in horrifying situations, regardless of one individual act. Such a film, though set in the 80s, is always timely considering the never-ending atrocities in our world. The film asks us what we would do while putting Bill in the midst of it all; his struggles are obvious as he internally fights with himself to make a decision.
Small Things Like These Boasts A Stunning Performance From Cillian Murphy
His Acting Here Is Mesmerizing
Bill is a character who isn’t staunchly against anything, nor does he fancy himself a righteous person. The fact he’s such a quiet observer makes Small Things Like These feel more harrowing and urgent. Murphy is pitch-perfect as Bill, turning inward in body and mind. The film’s sparse dialogue means the actor relies more heavily on his physicality to express Bill’s inner turmoil. Murphy does that seamlessly, bringing us into his pain in a reflective way that evokes a multitude of feelings.
Whether Murphy is bowing his head when conversing with Sister Mary, physically underscoring his fear and wariness of her, or his eyes grow distant with memory or in thought, he articulates everything Bill doesn’t say with sorrow. Murphy pulls us in with just a look or gesture, his performance magnetic and layered. The supporting cast is also excellent, though they have less to do. Devlin brings an urgent desperation to her performance as Sarah, but she’s also resigned to her fate and quietly sad. And in just one scene, Watson is commanding, her performance a force to be reckoned with.
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In a little over 90 minutes, Small Things Like These can be captivating and grim, despondent yet hopeful. It’s a bit slow to start, but the beauty of the film is that it takes its time to lay out its story and the emotion embedded into everything is as captivating as it is gut-wrenching. It made me feel so much — heartbreak, anger, horror — but I appreciated the starkness and tenderness with which Mielants chose to tell this story. Its examination of society and powerful institutions — their influence and strength — compared with individual responsibility and defiance of them is immensely moving.
Small Things Like These screened at the 2024 Middleburg Film Festival. The film is 98 minutes long and rated PG-13 for thematic material.
8/10
Oscar® winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as devoted father Bill Furlong in this film based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Claire Keegan. While working as a coal merchant to support his family, he discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent — and uncovers truths of his own — forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.
- Cillian Murphy gives a powerful, sorrowful performance
- The story is excellently told and nuanced
- Small Things Like These is captivating even in its grimness