The Secret Scriptures
A psychiatrist (Eric Bana) examines Roseanne McNulty (Vanessa Redgrave), an elderly Irishwoman living in a mental institution, and learns more about her past in the process. Rooney Mara plays McNulty as a young woman, in flashbacks that detail her love triangle with a fighter pilot (Jack Reynor) and a priest (Theo James). Directed by Jim Sheridan, The Secret Scripture is based on the novel of the same name by Sebastian Barry.
1 August 1958, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, UK
11 July 1962, Sligo, Ireland
16 December 1984, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
30 January 1937, Greenwich, London, England, UK
May 18, 2017
Mara ensures that we feel for Rose, and James is surprisingly effective as the man who ruins Rose's life, but The Secret Scripture isn't as moving or intriguing as it should be.
May 18, 2017
Sebastian Barry's Costa prizewinning novel is gutted and reconstituted to the point of absurdity in this cockeyed adaptation.
September 11, 2016
It doesn't take too long for Jim Sheridan's period romance "The Secret Scripture" to contort itself into a befuddlingly bungled mess. But at the outset, it seems to have everything going for it.
May 17, 2017
It's the construction, not the performances, which undermines The Secret Scripture.
May 19, 2017
Its lack of nuance and persistent plotting issues frequently undermine much of the potential emotional heft.
September 13, 2016
Disjointed and disinterested in entertaining any and all prospective viewers, the overlong slab of melodrama is one of the most vanilla experiences at the movies in quite some time.
May 19, 2017
The overall power of the story is female suppression across the ages that really hits home - subtly interwoven, but accompanied by that unsavoury feel of demonising the independent screen female again.
May 19, 2017
Sheridan's adaptation of Sebastian Barry's Man Booker-shortlisted novel begins portentously and spirals downwards from there.
May 18, 2017
The result is still a handsome romantic epic but it lacks the emotional punch of the book.
May 15, 2017
Jim Sheridan's first Irish movie since The Boxer has trouble unpicking its mysteries, opting for a romantic soap that sees Rooney Mara's heroine face ostracism after falling for Jack Reynor's RAF pilot in '40s Sligo.
May 15, 2017
Goes from a fairly forgettable romantic drama into a full-tilt fiasco.
May 18, 2017
Variously lukewarm and lugubrious ...
