Movies like The Magdalene Sisters

If you like "The Magdalene Sisters" you are looking for bleak, disturbing and brutal movies about / with nun, convent, life is a bitch, human spirit, corporal punishment, mistreatment and catholic church themes of Drama genre shot in UK or Ireland.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
 7.7
 28K
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 114 min.
Story: Four women are given into the custody of the Magdalene sisterhood asylum to correct their sinful behavior: Crispina and Rose have given birth to a premarital child, Margaret got raped by her cousin and the orphan Bernadette had been repeatedly caught flirting with the boys. All have to work in a laundry under the strict supervision of the nuns, who break their wills through sadistic punishment.
Style: bleak, disturbing, brutal, controversial, harsh, depressing, suspense, factual, compassionate, rough ...
Audience: teens, girls' night
Plot: nun, convent, life is a bitch, human spirit, corporal punishment, mistreatment, catholic church, evil nun, religion, sexual harassment, humiliation, catholic, catholic orphanage, human rights, sin, punishment, violence against women, slavery, prison, sexual abuse, society, brutality, brainwashing, public humiliation, justice ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, year 1964, year 2002, 1960s
Place: ireland, europe, dublin ireland, latin america
Keyword: irish, feminist film, watching a movie, mass, jewish, challenge

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to The Magdalene Sisters

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, sincere and bleak films with plots about society, life is a bitch, religion, coming of age, abuse, child abuse and sex crime mostly in Drama, History and Action genres. Some movies like The Magdalene Sisters: Evil (2003), Song for a Raggy Boy (2003), The Nun (2013), 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), King of Devil's Island (2010). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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 7.7
 42K
Evil (2003)
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 113 min.
Story: Stockholm, the fifties. Though academically bright, violent pupil Erik Ponti is expelled from his state school with the headmaster’s words “there’s only one word for people like you – evil… what you need is a good thrashing, and more”. ...
Style: psychological, rough, disturbing, touching, emotional ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: rebellion, coming of age, private school, rebelliousness, humiliation, corporal punishment, friendship, life is a bitch, high school, bully, bullying, boarding school ...
Time: 1950s, year 2003, 20th century, 50s
Place: europe, scandinavia, stockholm sweden, eastern europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Ireland, Denmark, UK, Spain
Duration: 94 min.
Story: William Franklin is a teacher who was born in Ireland and moved to the United States only to repatriate in 1939 after his leftist political views cause him to lose his job. Franklin becomes the first non-cleric instructor at St. Jude's, a ...
Style: disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, serious, sincere ...
Plot: child abuse, juvenile delinquency, orphan, dedicated educator, boarding school life, reformatory, gay rape, child rape, corporal punishment, sexual abuse, teachers and students, abuse ...
Time: 1930s, year 1939
Place: ireland, europe, spain
⇓ similarity ⇓
78%
 6.5
 2K
The Nun (2013)
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Suzanne Simonin describes her life of suffering in letters. As a young woman she is sent to a convent against her will. Since her parents cannot afford the dowry required for a marriage befitting her rank they decide she must instead become a nun. ...
Style: realistic, captivating, serious, atmospheric, psychological ...
Plot: religion, lesbian, convent, power relations, clergy, strong female presence, society, celibacy, lesbian nun, women's rights, abuse of power, humiliation ...
Time: 18th century
Place: france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania, Belgium
Duration: 113 min.
Story: Gabita is pregnant, abortion is strictly forbidden in Romania during the communist regime. Despite this it is common practice and Gabita wants an abortion. The movie follows her and her friend Otilia during the day she has made the appointment with ...
Style: depressing, disturbing, bleak, melancholic, tense ...
Audience: teens
Plot: abortion, sexual abuse, friendship, unwanted pregnancy, communism, rape, realism, communist, doctor, coming of age, young woman, character study ...
Time: 80s, year 2007, 2000s, year 1987, 20th century
Place: romania, transylvania, eastern europe, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
King of Devil's Island (2010)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: Norway, France, Sweden, Poland
Duration: 116 min.
Story: Based on a true story: Norwegian winter, 1915. On the island Bastøy, outside Oslo, a group of young boys aged 11 to 18, are held in an institution for delinquent youth, notorious for its sadistic regime. One day a new boy, Erling, arrives, ...
Style: bleak, tense, visually appealing, serious, thought provoking ...
Audience: teen drama
Plot: punishment, sexual abuse, prison life, island, juvenile detention, prison, rebellion, child abuse, protest, isolation, survival, coming of age ...
Time: 1910s, 1920s, 20th century, year 1915
Place: scandinavia, eastern europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Boys of St. Vincent (1992)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min.
Story: The true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage ran by a religious community in Newfoundland.
Style: realistic, disturbing, bleak, sad, art house ...
Audience: teens
Plot: pedophilia, child abuse, catholic priest, child molestation, man boy relationship, catholic orphanage, pedophile priest, homosexual rape, orphanage, child molester, childhood, underage sex ...
Time: 70s, year 1975
Place: canada, newfoundland
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story: Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship. A TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel.
Style: psychological, rough, melancholic, bleak, captivating ...
Plot: rape, sexism, surrogate mother, infertility, dystopia, protest, totalitarianism, slavery, tyranny, religion, belief, women's rights ...
Time: future, near future, 2010s, 21st century
Place: syria
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Difficult tale of poor, struggling South Carolinian mother & daughter, who each face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as ...
Style: disturbing, realistic, emotional, touching, suspense ...
Audience: teens
Plot: sexual abuse, coming of age, rape, family relations, dysfunctional family, pedophile, parents and children, life is a bitch, domestic violence, child abuse, children, child rape ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, 90s, 1950s, 50s
Place: south carolina, usa, southern usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
 7.0
 7K
Evelyn (2002)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Germany, Ireland, UK, Netherlands
Duration: 94 min.
Story: Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children, Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice, make it clear to the authorities that ...
Style: sentimental, touching, sincere, feel good, intense ...
Plot: children, court, lawyer, mercy, family problems, unemployment, against the odds, parents and children, fighting the system, courtroom drama, 007, single father ...
Time: 50s, year 2002, 1950s, 20th century, year 1953
Place: ireland, sydney australia, scotland, europe, dublin ireland
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.2
 612
Abandoned (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Áron is a happy child in his family. But at some point things take a different turn, and his mother starts to lose her health rapidly. As this happens, the man in charge decides what's best for Áron without consulting the young boy's ...
Style: uplifting, serious, touching, sincere, art house ...
Plot: corporal punishment, orphan, coming of age, children, male bonding, kids in trouble, life is a bitch, juvenile delinquency, human spirit, friendship, teenage life, boarding school life ...
Time: 60s, year 1960
Place: europe, hungary
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
Style: psychological, thought provoking, dramatic, serious, surprise ending ...
Audience: date night, family friendly, teen drama, adult
Plot: mental illness, mental institution, fighting the system, human spirit, insanity, freedom, psychiatrist, unlikely friendships, psychopath, society, nurse, escaped mental patient ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, year 1975
Place: oregon, eastern europe, america, persia
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 7.3
 116K
Precious (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, ...
Style: bleak, depressing, emotional, rough, sad ...
Audience: teens, teen drama, adult
Plot: rape, dysfunctional family, sexual abuse, teacher, poverty, child abuse, aids, illiteracy, domestic violence, african american, life is a bitch, parents and children ...
Time: 2000s, 20th century, year 1987, 80s
Place: new york, america, harlem, new york city, usa, harlem ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
67%
 6.8
 97K
Thirteen (2003)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Tracy is a normal 13-year-old trying to make it in school. After befriending the most popular girl at school, Evie, Tracy's world is turned upside down when Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before ...
Style: tense, teen, realistic, sincere, disturbing ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, girls' night, teen drama, adult
Plot: coming of age, drug addiction, teenager, peer pressure, friendship, addiction, dysfunctional family, teenage protagonist, underage drinking, teenage girl, mother daughter relationship, self harm ...
Time: year 2003, y2k, near future, 20th century, 2000s ...
Place: california, usa, los angeles, venice beach california
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.5
 136K
Doubt (2008)
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: In 1964, a Catholic school nun questions a priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled young student, suspecting him of abuse. He denies the charges, and much of the film's quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality, and ...
Style: period piece, sincere, psychological, clever, enigmatic ...
Plot: priest, religion, pedophilia, clergy, nun, sexual abuse, life is a bitch, teacher, catholic, pedophile, catholic church, boy ...
Time: 60s, year 2008, victorian era, 90s, year 1964 ...
Place: new york, usa, bronx new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.5
 3K
The Nun (1966)
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 140 min.
Story: In eighteenth-century France, a girl is forced against her will to take vows as a nun. Three mothers superior treat her in radically different ways, ranging from maternal concern, to sadistic persecution, to lesbian desire.
Style: art house, historical drama, sensual, captivating, thought provoking ...
Plot: nun, religion, convent, lgbt, catholic, monk, nunsploitation, priest, suicide, fetish, swing, communism ...
Time: 18th century, year 1966
Place: france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.1
 490K
The Help (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, India
Duration: 146 min.
Story: Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's ...
Style: touching, inspirational, thought provoking, uplifting, feel good ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick, teens, kids, date night ...
Plot: racism, friendship, discrimination, civil rights, writers, women, maid, master and servant, human spirit, life is a bitch, racial segregation, racial issues ...
Time: 60s, 2010s, year 2011, 1900s, 50s ...
Place: mississippi, usa, america, africa, southern usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Day Will Come (2016)
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Set in the blooming 1960s, the film centres around two young brothers who are instantly robbed of their lives when they are placed in a boy's home forgotten by time. Armed only with a vivid imagination and a fickle hope, the boys engage in the ...
Style: touching, realistic, suspense, captivating, suspenseful ...
Plot: orphanage, abuse, brother, brother brother relationship, bully, violence, mockery, escape, rules, sexualized violence, humiliation, sexual abuse ...
Time: 60s
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story: "The Passion of the Christ" is a film about the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus. Director Mel Gibson received much criticism from critics and audiences for his explicit depiction of and focus on violence and on christs suffering, ...
Style: biblical, christian film, controversial, brutal, rough ...
Audience: chick flick, manly, adult
Plot: christianity, jesus, jesus christ, religion, redemption, religious, betrayal, torture, bible, roman empire, brutality, life philosophy ...
Time: year 2004, ancient times, 2000s, 1930s, 1st century ...
Place: holy land, jerusalem, rome italy, ancient greece, greece ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
Movie in collections
 7.3
 45K
North Country (2005)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min.
Story: A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States -- Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
Style: dramatic, emotional, sincere, factual, disturbing ...
Plot: courtroom drama, small town, feminism, sexual harassment, lawsuit, rape, court, lawyer, labor union, courtroom, sexism, workplace ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, 70s, 80s
Place: minnesota, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Breaking the Waves (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Spain, UK
Duration: 159 min.
Story: In a small and conservative Scottish village, a woman's paralytic husband convinces her to have extramarital intercourse so she can tell him about it and give him a reason for living.
Style: disturbing, sad, bleak, heartbreaking, psychological ...
Plot: sex, husband wife relationship, love, tragic love, marriage, disability, love story, self sacrifice, small town, psychology, sex with a stranger, paralysis ...
Time: year 1996, 70s, 90s, 20th century
Place: scotland, nebraska, europe, scottish highlands
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
The Color Purple (1985)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story: An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert ...
Style: sentimental, uplifting, touching, inspirational, sad ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: african american, incest, sexual abuse, domestic violence, rape, life is a bitch, feminism, slavery, incest rape, abusive relationship, wife abuse, lgbtq ...
Time: edwardian era, 20th century, 1930s, year 1985, 1920s ...
Place: africa, southern usa, usa, tennessee, georgia
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
 7.3
 10K
Osama (2003)
Genre: Drama
Country: Afghanistan, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Iran
Duration: 83 min.
Story: Teenage girl Osama cuts her hair and dresses like a boy to get a job and support her widowed mother and grandmother. When Osama is called by the Taliban to join school and military training she embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she ...
Style: serious, realistic, disturbing, sincere, bleak ...
Plot: coming of age, islam, taliban, survival, oppression, child abuse, injustice, life is a bitch, brutality, justice, religion, police investigation ...
Time: year 2003, 21st century
Place: middle east, afghanistan, iraq, persia, pakistan
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
 6.4
 13K
Fat Girl (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Elena is 15, beautiful and flirtatious. Her less confident sister, Anais, is 12, and constantly eats. On holiday, Elena meets a young Italian student who is determined to seduce her. Anais is forced to watch in silence, conspiring with the lovers, ...
Style: bleak, erotic, psychological, sexy, tense ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: coming of age, innocence lost, rape, sexuality, virginity, first love, virgin, defloration, female nudity, sexual abuse, first time, rapist ...
Time: 90s, year 2001, 2000s
Place: france, south of france, rome italy, paris france
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Movie in collections
Beyond the Hills (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania, France, Belgium
Duration: 152 min.
Story: A drama centered on the friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
Style: disturbing, sincere, realistic, bleak, depressing ...
Plot: convent, nun, belief in god, friendship, culture clash, exorcism, religion, traditional versus modern, society, danger, clergy, lgbt ...
Time: year 2012
Place: romania, transylvania, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
 7.2
 571
Our Fathers (2005)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: In the '80s, priests and especially the Father Geoghan arrested for sexual abuse of minors. Cardinal Law, also indicted, and the diocese was aware of the actions of these men of the church and was kept secret for years, until the victims decide ...
Style: thought provoking, serious, realistic, sincere
Plot: church, sexual abuse, pedophile, clergy, legal investigation, social decay, courtroom drama, sexual harassment, dishonesty, fighting the system, legal, society ...
Time: 21st century
Place: boston, usa, europe, france
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 5.9
 470
Stella Days (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland, Norway, Germany
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A priest stationed in Tipperary, Ireland, is eager to return to Rome. Told he cannot do so until he has raised enough money for the building of a new church, he decides to open a cinema in the local town.
Style: realistic, captivating, serious, sincere, intellectual
Plot: religion, confession, small town, idealism, clergy, religions or cults, social relations, small town life, hopes, society, belief in god, priest ...
Time: 20th century, 50s, year 1956, 1950s
Place: ireland
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 8.3
 361K
The Hunt (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 115 min.
Story: A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Style: bleak, thought provoking, psychological, depressing, sad ...
Audience: adult
Plot: injustice, life turned upside down, child abuse, false accusation, divorce, social injustice, social relations, pedophile, parents and children, teacher, church, punched in the face ...
Time: 2010s, year 2012, year 2013, 21st century
Place: denmark
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
A Brand New Life (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: France, South Korea
Duration: 92 min.
Story: Young Jinhee is taken by her father to an orphanage near Seoul. He leaves her there never to return, and she struggles to come to grips with her fate. Jinhee desperately believes her father will come back for her and take her on a trip. The film is ...
Style: sincere, serious, touching, realistic, captivating ...
Plot: children, orphan, youth, adoption, dysfunctional family, family relations, hopes, parents and children, girl, child abandonment, abandoned by father, family problems ...
Time: year 2009, 70s, 20th century, year 1975
Place: korea, south korea, seoul, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 6.7
 5K
Novitiate (2017)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: In the early 1960s, during the Vatican II era, a young woman training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, sexuality and the changing church.
Style: thought provoking, suspenseful, captivating, disturbing, controversial ...
Plot: nun, catholic church, monastery, lesbian, catholicism, vatican, priest, mother superior, confession, catholic, flagellation, lgbt ...
Time: year 1964, year 1954, 60s, year 2017, 90s
Place: tennessee
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 7.5
 34K
Tyrannosaur (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min.
Story: The story of Joseph a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction. As Joseph's life spirals into turmoil a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker. Their relationship ...
Style: bleak, depressing, disturbing, psychological, realistic ...
Plot: abuse, rage, domestic violence, abusive husband, violence, society, frustration, brutality, social problems, cuckold, family drama, faith ...
Time: 2010s, year 2011, year 2010, 21st century
Place: england, yorkshire, northern england
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
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