BLUE ROAD: THE EDNA O’BRIEN STORY
(The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5-15 and HtN has you covered once again. Check out Chris Reed’s Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story movie review. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
Renowned Irish writer Edna O’Brien died at the age of 93 on July 27 of this year. Her literary debut in the 1960s with a trio of novels—The Country Girls, The Lonely Girl, and Girls in Their Married Bliss—shocked her compatriots with their frank discussion of women’s desires and ambitions. Writing in explicit and beautiful prose, she explored ideas that the many of the residents of what was then a deeply conservative Catholic country would have preferred to never see on the page. Beyond the Emerald Isle’s shores, however. she was a big hit (and plenty of the Irish read her, too, even if the government and church hierarchy railed against her).
That was merely the start of her career, as we learn in Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, from documentarian Sinéad O’Shea (Pray for Our Sinners). O’Brien had earlier fled the patriarchal confines of her childhood in County Clare to marry an older novelist, Ernest Gébler, who at that time was riding a wave of success thanks to his book The Plymouth Adventure, adapted by Hollywood in 1952 (with Spencer Tracy in the lead). She at the time was working in a chemist’s shop (aka pharmacy). When the family objected, the couple decamped to England, marrying in 1954. They would have two sons, Carlo and Sasha, the one now also a writer and the other an architect.
As her star waxed and Ernest’s waned, the latter grew jealous and possessive, demanding she turn over the proceeds from her writing and eventually turning abusive. The movie takes its title from a turn of phrase in a story of hers that drove Ernest crazy. “Roads aren’t blue,” he yelled! Given what O’Brien had seen in her parents’ relationship, it wasn’t easy for her to break away, but she did, and the divorce was finalized in 1964. The kids chose her. They were free now.
Thereafter, O’Brien’s celebrity status rose even more. She set up shop in London and cultivated a social circle that included many of the glitterati (beyond her) of the age, including Sean Connery, Richard Burton, and others (man of these men would also want to sleep with her, and when she was in the mood, some of them did). She also wrote for the theater and the movies (and quite a few of her own works were adapted by others for the screen).
Actress Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) narrates the film as she reads from O’Brien’s diaries and memoir, bringing the author’s evocative words to the screen. The older O’Brien herself is very much another contributor, mostly from a 2023 interview (that we see come to an end as she falters from fatigue and a medical issue) and then from a final taping in April, 2024. There is also ample footage from O’Brien over the years, given the many television interviews for which she sat.
In addition, O’Shea puts on a full cast of characters to testify to the wonders of O’Brien’s personality and the power of her writing, which continued until very recently: her last novel, Girl, came out in 2019. Among those talking heads, we meet actor Gabriel Byrne, poet and essayist Doireann Ní Ghríofa, writer Ann Enright, and University of Cambridge Professor Clair Wills. American crime-fiction novelist Walter Mosley—he of Easy Rawlins fame—speaks to her dedication as a teacher; he took creative-writing classes with her when she was at City College in New York and credits O’Brien with pushing him to finally publish.
In short, O’Brien lived a full life, even if she was often disappointed in love. So many remember her fondly and celebrate her writing. And now, this extremely entertaining documentary offers a rousing portrait that does her ample justice. Watch it and get to reading.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
Toronto International Film Festival; Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story; Sinéad O’Shea
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