The Magdalene Sisters (2002)

Wherever lapsed Catholics and imaginative perverts of no religion congregate, nuns come in for a lot of abuse. Those former followers of the Church of Rome who endured the rigors of a parochial education have no greater pleasure than to malign the sisters of no mercy for harsh corporal discipline and cruel verbal mockery. Irreligious sexual deviates can imagine no greater erotic thrill than to picture the brides of Christ indulging in carnal abandonment. Unfortunately, only the Catholic school dropout group of nun abusers will be fully satisfied by the depiction of convent finished females in The Magdalene Sisters (2002), but the catharsis experienced by any formerly frail catechism kid who suffered at the hands of a habit-clad torturer will be so complete as to verge on orgasmic. Certainly those in the audience whose deviance is merely sexual will not begrudge some nun abusers their release. Perhaps that’s why this film found its way onto several Top Ten lists from The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune to the San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today. No doubt, critics were impressed by the drama’s historical significance — not to mention the flesh flashed on screen. During a demeaning lineup, so-called “fallen” females (Anne-Marie Duff, Dorothy Duffy, Eileen Walsh, Nora-Jane Noone) go full frontal as a sadistic sister plays a game wherein she judges who has the smallest and largest breasts, and whose muff is fluffiest. But it appears we’re the real winners since we get to see the babes’ bare bodies. Praise the Lord!