Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story
In Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, Sinéad O’Shea creates a compelling tribute to one of Ireland’s most groundbreaking literary figures. O’Brien, who scandalised a deeply patriarchal society with her 1960 novel The Country Girls, is given a fittingly evocative cinematic testament. Her diaries are brought to life through Jessie Buckley’s voiceover, while an extended final interview – recorded shortly before her death last July at the age of 93 – anchors the film with O’Brien’s own reflections. What emerges is a portrait of a writer as fearless in life as she was on the page.
O’Brien’s personal history unfolds like one of her own novels: a tale of escape and defiance against the stifling forces of family, marriage and the church. Growing up in rural Ireland, she fled a domineering mother and an alcoholic father, only to find herself in a troubled marriage with fellow writer Ernest Gébler. Her debut novel, banned and burnt in Ireland, propelled her to international fame, deepening Gébler’s resentment and ultimately leading to their bitter divorce. Yet, as Blue Road reveals, O’Brien transformed her pain into prose, writing with a lyricism and courage that boldly explored female desire and oppression.
O’Shea explores the complexities and contradictions of her subject. Intensely private yet drawn to celebrity, O’Brien played hostess to the literary and Hollywood stars. She chronicled love’s disappointments with razor-sharp clarity, yet remained drawn to men who repeatedly let her down. The film’s title itself originates from a disagreement with Gébler – he insisted all roads were green, while she saw them in a spectrum of colours. It is a fitting metaphor for a writer who refused imposed narratives, always seeking new shades of meaning in the world around her.
Though deeply engaged with the theme of trauma, Blue Road never becomes consumed by it. O’Brien, ever articulate and wry, rejects self-pity. Her reflections on childhood abuse, failed romances and partisan censorship are delivered with an almost mischievous charm, even as the film acknowledges the sorrow of a woman who was only fully embraced by her homeland later in life. The result is a powerful, intimate portrait – not just of a literary icon, but of the sacrifices and triumphs that come with charting one’s own road.
Christina Yang
Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story is released in select cinemas on 18th April 2025.
Watch the trailer for Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story here:
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