'Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story' Review: An Illuminating Portrait of a Celebrated Irish Writer
Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story COURTESY of Doc Nyc
Screened on opening night at DOC NYC
the film captures the final years of Edna O'Brien's life,
offering a close examination of a literary icon who faced backlash in her homeland.
In Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story, Jessie Buckley reads a diary entry from May 1967 that sets the tone: "Ah, the trees, how tortured they are. If anyone has to ask me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed and stark and misshapen but ferociously tenacious." This captures O'Brien's enduring, often conflicted relationship with her native Ireland, framing her journey through a vivid connection to nature, which served as her sanctuary amid life's tumult.
One of the most engaging aspects of Sinéad O'Shea's touching documentary is the insight into O'Brien's own voice. Featuring numerous archival clips, along with an extensive interview conducted near the end of O'Brien's life, the film lets us hear the author in her own words. Her sentences, even in conversation, resonate like finely crafted prose—clear, evocative, and profound. Her eloquence remained grounded, unafraid of blunt truths, and always rich in literary quality.
Like many artists, O'Brien began her creative journey as a way to escape a difficult reality. She grew up in County Clare, the daughter of a father who squandered his family's wealth and a mother burdened by a challenging marriage. Her upbringing was deeply troubled, marked by a blend of love, neglect, and emotional turbulence. Reflecting on those early years, O'Brien recalled her mother initially not wanting her, only to swing to an extreme devotion: "I became her guardian, her shield, her reason for existence."
The documentary doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of her life. In an emotional archival scene, O'Brien watches her father sing "Danny Boy" from his chair while she perches on a windowsill—a touching yet complex memory. Despite moments of apparent tenderness, O'Brien couldn't forget the abuse her family endured. As the film unfolds, it becomes clear that reconciling her father's duality was one of the emotional struggles she carried with her until the end of her life.
In the early 1950s, O'Brien left behind the confines of her small-town life to move to Dublin, where she found work as a magazine columnist. She discovered James Joyce, whose influence guided her own literary pursuits, even culminating in a biography she published in 1999. During this time, she also met Ernest Gébler, a Communist writer with whom she formed a complicated relationship. Their courtship, met with family resistance, eventually led to a troubled marriage—one that deeply colored her views on men and relationships, as reflected in her novels.
The success of O'Brien's debut novel, The Country Girls, in 1960 was a turning point in both her personal and professional life. The novel—and its portrayal of female desire—sparked outrage from the Irish Church and government, resulting in public condemnation and censorship. Despite this backlash, O'Brien remained resilient, continuing to write about the struggles of women seeking autonomy.
Despite her reputation as a bold voice in literature, O'Brien never aligned herself with the feminist movement of the '60s and '70s, nor did she position her work within that context. Instead, she found champions in American literary giants like J.D. Salinger and Philip Roth. After leaving her husband, O'Brien established herself in London's literary circles, her Chelsea mansion becoming a hub for celebrities like Paul McCartney, Shirley MacLaine, and Jane Fonda.
As the film moves into O'Brien's later years, it becomes clear that while she was celebrated abroad, her legacy in Ireland was more complex. Her works were often seen as traitorous to traditional family values. However, toward the end of her life, she gained a level of recognition in her home country that had long been withheld from her.
O'Shea's documentary, enriched by a wealth of photographs, home videos, and interviews, does an excellent job of tracing the evolution of O'Brien's writing and personal journey. It explores her experimentation with psychoanalysis and LSD, as well as her relationships—from her affair with a British politician to her role as a mentor to future authors like Walter Mosley.
In her final reflections, O'Brien admitted that, despite all the success and glamour, her deepest memories were rooted in her early life—in the Irish countryside, in the fields she wandered as a child. The documentary is tinged with a melancholy understanding of how her childhood shaped her, for better or worse. O'Shea and editor Gretta Ohle present an enthralling and compassionate portrait of a complex figure, giving O'Brien the recognition she deserves while acknowledging the solitude and struggles that came with her success.
Ultimately, Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story reveals how, at the end of her life, O'Brien was less focused on her literary acclaim or the celebrities she once knew, but rather on the human connections that had eluded her—particularly those with her family. Her father's simple, vulnerable admission—"It gets lonely sometimes, Edna"—lingers as a poignant reminder of the emotional threads that shaped both her life and her art.
TCG Score: 4.5/5 ★★★★½
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