Cillian Murphy's 'Small Things Like These' Will Explore a Painful Chapter in Irish History

Cillian Murphy won an Oscar for portraying the American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the Best Picture-winning film, Oppenheimer. But for his next major role --- and one that sure looks likely to earn him some additional awards buzz --- he's going back to his Irish roots.

Lionsgate has set U.S., U.K., and Irish release dates for Small Things Like These, a prestige adaptation of Claire Keegan's bestselling novel of the same name. Set in 1985 in the small Irish town of New Ross, the film follows the story of Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and father whose frequent deliveries to the local convent force him to confront some of the darker events taking place there, as well as his own childhood trauma.

In the film's trailer, we see Bill watch as a young woman is forced inside the convent against her will, an event that's just the tip of the iceberg of abuse taking place behind its walls. Religious institutions like this (which were predominantly run by the Catholic Church) were often known as Magdalene Laundries (or Magdalene Asylums depending on who you ask) and essentially incarcerated "fallen women" of various stripes in Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. While most of these women were pregnant with illegitimate children they were later forced to give up, the concept of "fallen woman" was expansive enough to include those guilty of any sort of sexual sin, from adultery and prostitution to same-sex attraction.