The Secret Scripture

This film tells the story of a psychiatrist in Ireland, who is sent to a hospital by the Church to evaluate a woman who has been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for the past 40 years.

"The Secret Scripture" begins very slowly, and for a while I thought it wanted to be "The Notebook". It turned out not to be the case, as the plot unfolded to become a shocking story of power abuse. How the perpetrator was capable of doing such inhuman things was simply beyond me. How he lived with his conscience for 40 years was shocking as well. I managed to guess the ending before the obvious clues were given, but seeing such a satisfactory ending drove me to tears. It was really touching to see the ending, even though justice arrived in an untimely manner.

It's easy to get absorbed in a story without recognising the bigger picture that frames the narrative. To describe The Secret Scripture (2017) as a woman's diary of life in a mental hospital masks the darker narrative of horror perpetrated by the Catholic Church. Based on a 2008 novel of the same name, the film is part of the recent wave of disclosures about appalling misdeeds committed in the name of holiness across various parts of the world.

Set in Ireland from the early 1930s, the story traces the life of Roseanne McNulty who was falsely incarcerated in an Irish mental hospital owned by the Catholic Church. After more than 40 years as a patient, Rose must be discharged or moved elsewhere when the hospital closes. New psychiatrist William Grene (Eric Bana) discovers that she is mentally sharp and has meticulously recorded her life story across the pages of an old bible. In a complex series of flashbacks the elderly Rose (Vanessa Redgrave) recounts how, as a feisty young woman (played by Rooney Mara), she had fallen in love with Michael McNulty (Jack Reynor) believed by locals to be a British sympathiser. The new Father Gaunt (Theo James) takes more than a pastoral interest in Rose and tries to stop the affair. When Rose becomes pregnant and Michael is embroiled in the Irish Troubles, she is hunted down by local vigilantes for harbouring the suspected sympathiser. Enraged by the affair, Father Gaunt certifies her to be suffering from nymphomania and she is subjected to electric shock treatment and other abuses over four decades.

Great filming locations and stellar acting performances by Redgrave and Mara do little to save this film from its complicated and fractured web of episodic flashbacks. The constant shifts of time, place, and people is at the cost of narrative coherence and the contrived finale defies beiief. The narrow expressive repertoire of Eric Bana casts a pall of indifference over Rose's existence as if she were a specimen in a hospital test tube. When it is revealed she is much more than that, Bana strains to emote with warmth or empathy and leaves you wondering why he was cast in that role. The transitions between the younger and older Rose are increasingly disjointed as the entire ensemble drifts towards its soap-operatic conclusion.

Uncertain direction and messy narrative means it is easy to lose sight of the larger story of injustice suffered by people like Rose at the hands of the Catholic Church. The moral perversion of Father Gaunt and the Church's obsession to punish victims is left unexamined. Despite excellent filming and a well-crafted atmosphere of claustrophobic confinement, this film struggles to rise above a mediocre melodrama.

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An intriguing story, great acting, some things could have surely been better, but overall it's more than just a good movie, much better than one could tell from it's imdb 6.7 rating

Just caught the Gala premiere at TIFF and was stunned by this film.

Vanessa Redgrave and Rooney Mara play older and younger versions of Rose Clear, a woman out of place and out of mind in WWII Ireland. The film is based on the novel of the same name.

The acting in the film is beautiful. Director Jim Sheridan called VR a legend in his introduction to the film and the crowd gave her a standing O at the end. Mara does the incredible job of matching her beat for beat. Theo James (who I've only ever seen in the getting- worse-by-the-minute Divergent series) is downright terrifying as the priest who becomes obsessed with Rose. The photography and direction are top notch as well, and take full advantage of Ireland's natural beauty.

Only criticism is that the plot may be hard to follow if one isn't familiar with the details of Irish/British history. It also becomes a bit predictable, but by the time revelations are made the tears are already flowing so all is forgiven. Otherwise, the story weaves really nicely through the intricacies of being a single woman in that particular time and place. The material is heavy, and rightly so. It's interesting to note the contrast between the way women are treated in the film and the way the plot is so female driven and the two female leads are clearly so respected and credited by their director.

Between this, Una and Lion I wouldn't be surprised to see multiple Oscar nods for Mara.

One of the things I reckon a lot of people fear, is being detained in a mental hospital. While I do think that things probably have improved over the years (dear God let that be true) in those facilities, it still wouldn't be something anyone would look forward to.

The acting is really good, the story engaging and the tension is high. You may feel squeamish at times and sickened, but that is what the movie wants you to feel. Not an easy watch then, but if you can watch it, you will find something that is worth your time and really engaging.