Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story

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Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story

2024

1h 38m

Documentary

Biography

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100%

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14 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

In 1960, a young Irish woman named Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls. She became a literary sensation, writing for The New Yorker, delivering provocative interviews, and authoring screenplays. Her success enraged her writer husband and made her a pariah in her native Ireland, where her books were banned and burned. She would make her home in London, where she conducted numerous love affairs, hosted star-studded parties, and made and lost a fortune. In July 2024, Edna passed away and this film provides a final testimony from her, aged 93, as she reflects upon her extraordinary life for filmmaker Sinéad O'Shea's camera. Granting the director access to her personal journals, read aloud in the film by the Oscar-nominated Irish actress Jessie Buckley, and with additional perspectives offered from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley and an array of renowned writers, Edna does not shy from any subject.

Jonathan Romney

Financial Times

... A moving, insightful tribute to O’Brien as a formidable writer and a woman of remarkable complexity.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 17, 2025

Full Review

Deborah Ross

The Spectator

You could say it’s impossible to make a poor documentary about the writer Edna O’Brien as she’s never said or done anything uninteresting in her life. Point a camera and we’re away. But Sinead O’Shea’s Blue Road... is especially rewarding.

Apr 17, 2025

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

The film speaks to Walter Mosley, Anne Enright and Andrew O’Hagan who talk insightfully about her work, and perhaps most touchingly of all with her sons Carlo and Sasha Gébler. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging study.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 31, 2025

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Kenneth R. Morefield

1More Film Blog

The juxtaposition of a young woman’s diaries with an old woman’s recollections provides the narrative with emotional and tonal variance.

Rated: 3.5/5

Apr 5, 2025

Full Review

Harry Guerin

RTÉ (Ireland)

Narrated by Jessie Buckley from O'Brien's diaries and memoir, this film shows that you can be as tough as nails and vulnerable at the same time.

Rated: 5/5

Feb 7, 2025

Full Review

Hilary A White

Sunday Independent (Ireland)

Regal of tone and painstaking in her choice of words, O’Brien makes for a defiant, wistful, often sanguine, but ultimately brittle interviewee.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 5, 2025

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Sinéad O'Shea

Director

Edna O'Brien

Self

Jessie Buckley

Edna

Declan Conlon

Ernest

Gabriel Byrne

Self

Sinéad O'Shea

Writer

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Synopsis

In 1960, a young Irish woman named Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls. She became a literary sensation, writing for The New Yorker, delivering provocative interviews, and authoring screenplays. Her success enraged her writer husband and made her a pariah in her native Ireland, where her books were banned and burned. She would make her home in London, where she conducted numerous love affairs, hosted star-studded parties, and made and lost a fortune. In July 2024, Edna passed away and this film provides a final testimony from her, aged 93, as she reflects upon her extraordinary life for filmmaker Sinéad O'Shea's camera. Granting the director access to her personal journals, read aloud in the film by the Oscar-nominated Irish actress Jessie Buckley, and with additional perspectives offered from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley and an array of renowned writers, Edna does not shy from any subject.

Director: Sinéad O'Shea
Producer: Eleanor Emptage
Screenwriter: Sinéad O'Shea
Production Co: SOS Films
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Original Language: British English
Runtime: 1h 38m