This film is part of Rentals
Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story
A candid portrait of a literary sensation that’s as enchanting as O’Brien’s wonderful novels.
Director: Sinéad O'Shea
Overview
In 1960, a young Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls, becoming a literary sensation. But her success enraged her husband and made her a pariah in her native Ireland, where her books were banned and burned. Edna passed away in 2024 and this film provides a final testimony from her, aged 93, as she reflects upon her extraordinary life.
Granting director Sinéad O’Shea access to her personal journals — read aloud in the film by the Oscar nominated Irish actress Jessie Buckley — and with additional perspectives offered from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley and an array of renowned writers, Edna does not shy from any subject.
violence, language, references to domestic abuse, sex, drugs, suicide
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