Cillian Murphy on "genius" of ambiguous Small Things Like These ending

The film is adapted from the acclaimed novel of the same name by Claire Keegan and follows Murphy's character Bill Furlong after he uncovers a disturbing secret at a time when the notorious Magdalene Laundries were still in operation in Ireland, during the 1980s.

One day, while delivering coal to the local convent, he stumbles upon a vulnerable young woman named Sarah (Zara Devlin) who has been locked in a shed and is showing clear signs of distress.

Bill begins to wrestle with whether to intervene – a process which would mean putting him at odds with the then all-powerful church – prompting an an emotional journey that takes him back to his own childhood.

Ultimately, in the film's final scenes, we see Bill take matters into his own hands by leading her away from the convent and into his own family home, but – echoing what happens in the novel – the film abruptly cuts to black soon after he arrives, meaning we never get to find out the consequences of his act of goodwill.

Asked if he was intrigued to see people responses to this ambiguous ending, Murphy exclusively explained to RadioTimes.com that he'd already seen some interesting reactions while the film has been playing on the festival circuit.

"I think that's been happening already for the people that have watched it," he explained. "And, like, that's the genius of the book and the adaptation and the film is that the real crisis happens after the black."

He added: "People have very different points of view. And it's amazing to think about it, because it just unspools and unspools and unspools. And you don't know what it could possibly be.

"It could be a positive or it could have an optimistic outlook or a pessimistic. You know what I mean? It's very interesting, but it also represents, I think, sort of the beginning of the loosening of that grip that the church had at the time."

Murphy's co-stars Emily Watson and Eileen Walsh were also impressed by the way the film ends, with the former explaining how it could produce "many, many responses".

"The film stops at a moment where you really want it to carry on," she said. "But also, I mean, I can only speak to my own reaction when I eventually saw the finished film in Berlin, and I just felt rage. It made me so angry."

Walsh added: "We just felt in chats too, like rehearsal-wise, we really felt pulled between the different opinions of what [happens] and that's great, if people leave with that. That's amazing, that's a success, that's a grown up movie where you get to come out and have differing opinions.”

Meanwhile, writer Enda Walsh – who adapted the screenplay from Keegan's novel – explained: "It's amazing by denying the audience sort of like that next step, of course, you give them the opportunity to sort of feel out larger… you know, what he has done, what's going to happen? It sort of looms really big in the piece by sort of keeping it back."

Small Things Like These is now showing in UK cinemas.

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