"Sex in a Cold Climate" is as no-frills as filmmaking gets. This 1998 documentary is filled with static shots of people talking, and with only a bit of archival footage to break up the seeming tedium.
That description makes the film sound like it isn't anything special. However, the stories told here definitely are special . . . and heartbreaking. (This film served as the inspiration for last summer's controversial drama "The Magdalene Sisters," and at times this is every bit as difficult to watch.)
Writer/producer/director Steve Humphries managed to track down four women who spent time in Ireland's infamous Magdalene "asylums," in which young women were removed from society and forced to work in laundries — often in most inhumane conditions. Any of the four women interviewed could have been the film's sole focus; their stories are that harrowing.
Christina Mulcahy relates how she was separated from her newborn child (many of the approximately 30,000 young women were incarcerated in the asylums after having children out of wedlock). Both Brigid Young and Phyllis Valentine were imprisoned for very different reasons — Valentine because she was thought to be "too pretty," which might lead her into immorality. Then there's Martha Cooney, who was sent to one of the asylums to "silence" her after she complained about being raped by a cousin.
Humphries smartly lets each of these women tell her own story, using as few interruptions and gimmicks as possible. He also uses sparing narration (by British television actress Dervla Kirwan) to fill in what blanks remain.
"Sex in a Cold Climate" is not rated but would probably receive an R for frank sexual talk and graphic descriptions of sexual acts, as well as glimpses of nude artwork. Running time: 50 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com