“I was lonelier than I should be, for a woman in love, or half in love.”~ Edna O'Brien, Country Girl

Few writers were as hungry for life as Edna O’Brien – despite life often biting her back. With a career spanning over six decades and 34 books, O’Brien fearlessly explored the inner thoughts and desires of women, challenging societal norms and enduring relentless criticism as result. Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, directed by Sinéad O’Shea, is a powerful and moving documentary that captures the spirit, resilience, and legacy of this groundbreaking writer.

From the moment The Country Girls was banned and burned in Ireland in 1960, O’Brien became a literary rebel. Rather than shying away from controversy, she embraced it, using her voice to expose the oppressive forces that sought to silence her. O’Shea’s film masterfully weaves together archival footage, diary entries, and compelling interviews with the writer, some filmed just months before her death last year at age 93. What emerges is a vivid portrait of O’Brien, not just as an author, but as a woman who defied the constraints imposed upon her.

The documentary offers an intimate glimpse into O’Brien’s world, revealing the glitz, the struggles, and the way misogyny and patriarchy marked her life. Early photographs and diary entries read by Jessie Buckley bring us into O’Brien’s childhood in Clare, which was marked by her parents’ tumultuous marriage and the controlling temper of her father – who inspired many of her protagonist’ family dynamics. Her commitment to shining a light on abuse, control and struggle within Irish families, combined with explorations of sex and women’s desire in her novels, resulted in book burning and country-wide bans of O'Brien's books in Ireland. As ever, it was a sign that a woman was doing something right.

We’re also shown her relationship and marriage to writer Ernest Gébler. Initially admiring O’Brien’s young tenacity, he eventually grew resentful and abusive when her literary success outstripped his own. His viciousness is recounted by their sons, seen in the insults he scrawled in O’Brien’s diaries and felt in the silence around O’Brien’s accomplishments among the boys’ club literary scene in Ireland, where Gébler spread rumours that it was he that wrote dozens of novels about the inner lives of young Irish women (Anne Enright, caustic and insightful as aver, remarks, “Sometimes I think misogyny is just jealousy with a dick”).

After her divorce from Gébler, O’Brien moved to London where her work was celebrated, and she became a celebrity. Scenes of her glamorous parties with Sean Connery, Judy Garland, Paul McCartney and Marianne Faithfull play alongside archive footage of O’Brien being sparky and charismatic during TV interviews, often biting back at sexist questions with a defiant charm. But underneath the glamour, O’Brien was lonelier and more tormented than her public image implied. It was clear that her traumatic childhood and marriage, as well as her numerous relationships with men who were undeserving and unkind,  left scars.

O’Shea, known for her deeply humanistic storytelling in Pray for Our Sinners and A Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shot, brings a sharp feminist lens. She highlights the systemic misogyny that O’Brien faced, from an authoritarian father to a literary establishment that refused to take her seriously. One of the film’s most poignant moments comes when O’Brien, now in her 90s, is asked if she received enough care and support after enduring years of adversity. Her stark, repeated response - "No. No. No. No. No." - echoes as a devastating indictment of a society that failed to protect her.

Yet, despite these hardships, Blue Road is not more than a story of struggle - it is a celebration. O’Brien’s charisma, wit, and unwavering dedication to her craft shine through. O’Shea’s documentary - much like Kathryn Ferguson’s Nothing Compares - is a cultural reckoning which transcends biography. It stands as a tribute to a woman who refused to be silenced and a testament to the power of storytelling in the fight against oppression. It also serves as a reminder for women to be tenacious and a little bit outrageous.

A richly layered and deeply moving portrait of a brilliant writer, by a brilliant director.

In cinemas now. Check out the trailer below: