Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story (12A) |Close-Up Film Review
Dir: Sinead O’Shea UK/Ireland 2024, 100mins.
Voice cast: Jessie Buckley, Declan Conlon
Review by Carlie Newman
She wrote about the Ireland she knew, particularly young Irish women. She scandalised many in Ireland, particularly the Irish Catholic Church who condemned her and denounced her as a wicked woman.
She wrote some excellent books, particularly her first novel,THE COUNTRY GIRLS in 1960, which introduced many of us to this author. Her glamorous life was beset with difficulties with men. From her domineering father who had an alcohol to her a first husband, the writer Ernest Gebler, who being much older than Edna, controlled her life – taking her publishers checks and correcting her diaries, which we see.
She spoke eloquently and we see some of the interviews with her, including when she was 93 shortly before her death in 2024. The film certainly adds to our understanding of the misogyny that Edna faced, especially when she began writing. One of the greatest Irish writers, the documentary throws light on Edna O’Brien’s personal history.
