September 5 to September 15, 2024
PROGRAMME
TIFF Docs
The career or provacative Irish author Edna O’Brien is told in Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story. Through her books such as The Country Girls, The Lonely Girl, and A Pagan Place, Edna O’Brien’s writing was often considered obsene or indecent. Edna also shared a tumultuous marriage to the older writer Ernest Gébler, who would often criticise her writing and steal Edna’s royalties.
Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story Synopsis
Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story is a biography of Irish writer Edna O’Brien directed by Sinéad O’Shea. The story of the film is built around Edna O’Brien’s diary entries, which are narrated by actor Jessie Buckley. The film also features the final interviews with Edna O’Brien before her death in 2024, along with interviews with her sons and actor Gabriel Byrne.
My Thoughts on Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story
Edna O’Brien is undoubtedly an author that should be remembered for her sexually frank novels. However, the presentation of Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story gets increasingly dull and monotonous. It’s also ambiguous why someone like Gabriel Byrne was interviewed for this film, other than to show Edna O’Brien’s importants to Irish literature. While literary historians might find something to take away from this film, Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story is not a film that I would rush to suggest.
