Aoife Fealy uncovers Sinéad O’Shea’s portrait of Irish writer Edna OBrien.

Edna O’Brien, who passed away in July of last year, was a force to be reckoned with. Born in the depths of Co. Clare in 1930, this tenacious woman carved a path for herself seemingly from a young age. She was a prolific writer, starting out as a newspaper columnist in Dublin, publishing her first book in the UK before the age of 30, which ultimately culminated in over 40 works of novels, short stories, non-fiction and drama in her over 50+ year career. Her first novel Country Girls was renounced as ‘indecent and obscene’ in her native Ireland; a country strongly controlled by the Catholic Church at the time, the book was banned and often burned by those who believed they were upholding Ireland’s cultural heritage. However, she received critical acclaim and commercial success overseas, particularly in North America, which launched her from lurid Irish ‘harlot’ to high-rising modern socialite. The proceeding years included a divorce, further literary success, a life of glamour and graft – as well as a few scandalous affairs and broken hearts – all of which are explored and retold in this film with simple sincerity and somewhat sadness.

Through excerpts of O’Brien’s own diaries read aloud by Jessie Buckley and Declan Conlan, interviews with family, friends, critics and Edna herself, The Blue Road is an exploration not only of one of Ireland’s most celebrated authors but also of the female experience. Her life as well as her books carried the weight of male violence; not just physically, but emotionally and socially. This film explores a life fully lived, but is also a snapshot of the oppression women faced in Ireland, an oppression which controlled so many aspects of their existence for decades. As a result her works were a rebellion of female sexuality, vitality and womanhood, as experienced by the Irish women living it. 

This exploration of O’Brien’s life also presents archive footage of past television appearances, parties hosted in her townhouse mansion in Chelsea, and most interestingly a selection of home movies and art films her son Carlo captured in his younger years. The most experimental and yet captivating of these excerpts has to be young Carlo’s dramatisation of O’Brien’s most stylistic novel, Night (1972). Used to reflect one of the most turbulent eras of her life, the imagery captures a sense of emotional turmoil as well as a response to a somewhat upsetting experimentation with LSD, paired with the author’s captivating prose. Additionally, these home videos provide some exceptional insight and record of Edna’s provincial upbringing with a beautiful archive of her and her parents during an interview for television, which juxtaposes with a painful retelling of stories from her past.

All in all, this portrayal of one woman’s life, both public and private but all from a literary standpoint, is intimate, heartfelt, insightful and rewarding. Whether you have read O’Brien’s work or not, this biography will no doubt make you want to start.  

In cinemas from 31st January 2025.

 

 

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