The Secret Scripture

2016

108 mins

Directed by Jim Sheridan
35%
70%
Drama

Vanessa Redgrave, Rooney Mara and Eric Bana star in this adaptation of Sebastian Barry's award-winning novel directed by six-time Oscar-nominated... More

Vanessa Redgrave, Rooney Mara and Eric Bana star in this adaptation of Sebastian Barry's award-winning novel directed by six-time Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan.

"Roseanne McNulty (Redgrave) must vacate the soon-to-be demolished mental institution in Roscommon, Ireland that she's called home for over 50 years. The hospital's psychiatrist, Dr. William Grene (Bana), is called in to assess her condition. He finds himself intrigued by Roseanne's seemingly inscrutable rituals and tics, and her fierce attachment to her Bible, which she has over the decades transformed into a palimpsest of scripture, drawings, and cryptic diary entries. As Grene delves deeper into Roseanne's past, we see her as a young woman (Mara), whose charisma proves seductive. We learn that she moved to Sligo to work in her aunt's café, fell in love with a dashing fighter pilot (Jack Reynor), and that a local priest (Theo James) fell tragically in love with her." (Toronto International Film Festival)

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Where to watch The Secret Scripture

The Secret Scripture is available to stream in New Zealand... More now on YouTube and Google TV and Apple TV Store.

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The Secret Scripture | Ratings & Reviews

35_%40 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
70_%327 reviews
Audience score rating

"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."

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Variety

"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."

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Total Film

"Goes from a fairly forgettable romantic drama into a full-tilt fiasco."

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Time Out

"Young Rose, initially feisty, becomes an unknowable non-entity. We never truly understand her and Mara quickly becomes visibly bored."

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The Guardian

"Eric Bana and Rooney Mara shine in adaptation."

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Sydney Morning Herald

"All the window dressing in the world isn't enough to hide the fact that this misbegotten load of old tosh really doesn't add up to a coherent or credible yarn. Avoid."

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Stuff

"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."

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Screen Daily

"Beautifully dark, but the tidy ending feels forced."

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Hollywood Reporter

"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."

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