The Secret Scripture

Roseanne McNulty has spent decades in a psychiatric hospital in Ireland, held there since her youth for reasons that have long since become unclear. When a new psychiatrist, Dr. William Grene, takes charge of the institution and begins reviewing its patients, he becomes interested in her case. He finds a diary she kept hidden for years, and through it he comes to learn about her life before confinement: a youth marked by romance, betrayal, and the strict social and religious pressures of Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s. Adapted from Sebastian Barry's novel, the film moves between Roseanne's memories and the doctor's investigation of her past.

Jim Sheridan directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Johnny Ferguson. In his filmography the film sits between Dream House and the documentary Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba, following earlier work such as My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and In America. Rooney Mara plays the young Roseanne, with Vanessa Redgrave as the older woman, Eric Bana as Dr. Grene, and Theo James, Jack Reynor and Aidan Turner in supporting roles. It is an Irish production running 108 minutes.

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.7 from roughly 9,600 votes, while on TMDB it rates 7.2 from a much smaller pool of about 333 votes. A critics' rating of 4.3 from 38 reviews places it noticeably below the audience scores.