Saturday, May 24th, 2025
Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story
Jersey Arts Centre
Details
Sinead O’Shea / Ireland / 2024 / 100 mins In 1960, a young Irish woman named Edna O’Brien wrote The Country Girls , the first of a sexually frank trilogy of novels. O’Brien became an international literary sensation, gaining fame and notoriety through her marriage and acrimonious divorce from Ernest Gebler; publications in the New Yorker and the creation of screenplays for British and US cinema. She lived in London with her two sons where she hosted star-studded parties and conducted numerous love affairs. Her later work was inspired, at times controversially, by real life events. This documentary portrait, completed shortly before her death last year, features extracts from her journals (read with verve by Jessie Buckley), contributions from Gabriel Byrne, Anne Enright and other luminaries, and a remarkable final interview with Edna, and she reflects with dignity and candour on her extraordinary life. “ This portrayal of one woman’s life, both public and private but all from a literary standpoint, is intimate, heartfelt, insightful and rewarding. ” – Film Ireland Magazine “ O’Shea and editor Gretta Ohle weave the writer’s life into an enthralling portrait that gives O’Brien the recognition she deserves. ” – The Hollywood Reporter “ One of Ireland’s most important novelists and a woman of fierce intelligence and bravery is celebrated in Sinead O’Shea’s thoroughly enjoyable documentary. ” – The Guardian