Synopsis
The hidden memoir of an elderly woman confined to a mental hospital reveals the history of her passionate yet tortured life, and of the religious and political upheavals in Ireland during the 1920s and 30s.
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Cast
- Rooney MaraYoung Roseanne McNulty
- Theo JamesFather Gaunt
- Vanessa RedgraveOld Roseanne McNulty
- Eric BanaDr. William Grene
- Jack ReynorMichael Eneas
- Aidan TurnerJack McNulty
- Susan LynchNurse
- Tom Vaughan-LawlorMcCabe
- Charlie KellyBeau
- Nika McGuiganChrissie
Recommendations
- 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Rooney Mara and Theo James deliver their most richly nuanced screen work to date in the drama, a memory piece whose true subject is Ireland’s tangled, bloody history and the Church’s toxic paternalism toward women. - 70
Screen Daily
It is an elegantly crafted, expertly acted old-fashioned weepie that manages to sell a whopper of a plot that would bring a blush to the cheeks of Nicholas Sparks. - 42
The Playlist
The Secret Scripture is a film with a lot to say, which struggles with the best way to say it. - 40
The Guardian
Sheridan’s take on the material is solidly made but sorely lacking in subtlety. - 40
Variety
A classic case of a literary adaptation capturing the high-gloss trappings of its source without getting a handle on its story or themes, The Secret Scripture is like a nicely decorated Craftsman home built on a foundation of Jell-O, with a toilet where the kitchen sink should be. It looks nice on first glance, but spend any time there, and things start to get messy. - 40
Empire
A maudlin adaptation hampered by low energy and lapses of logic, The Secret Scripture does a disservice to the book it is based on, and the Irish history it plunders. - 40
The Telegraph
A variously lukewarm and lugubrious melodrama adapted from a 2008 novel by Sebastian Barry. - 35
TheWrap
The ending of this movie is monumentally, historically, even catastophically bad. Its big reveal is so mind-numbingly asinine that it nearly retroactively erases any intelligence you may have had before watching this movie. Yes, it’s that agonizing.
