Movie Review: Herself Is A Tale of Discovering Her
On a basic level, despite varying degrees, I think every one can understand the guilt, wonder, and sadness at knowing you stayed in a toxic situation for way too long. Your mind flutters between trying to reset your life into something better and the shame over all the time you wasted never reaching for something good. Out on Prime, January 8, in Herself, Clare Dunne writes and stars as a lead, Sarah, that will break your heart to reinvigorate it.
Finally, gaining the courage to leave her abusive husband, Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson) and take her two daughters away to redefine what is a home, Dunne is absolutely riveting as Sarah. She bleeds the casualness and commonality of tragedy. Everyday women are left weeping and whipped by a man who uses violence, in any form, to keep her chained with him. Anderson totally captures the self-pity and unawareness of an abuser; seeing his wife and daughters like property he owns and thus has been stolen. His darkness only amplifies Dunne’s Sarah and her lightness; making you pray she has the strength and wits to both avoid and defend herself from him.
It takes a powerful actor to make you feel protective over a character. Dunne delivers as a writer and performer because Sarah’s journey is a lesson that so many of us will have to learn: life doesn’t get better because you want to get better. Dunne is bare and relatable as a woman discovering herself post a horrendous relationship while still bound to the duties of motherhood. Moreover, located in Dublin, Sarah has decided to free herself and her girls from the wickedness of Gary right in the middle of a housing crisis. Thus, not only is she poor, but she is trying to rise in particularly impoverished times. Still, Phyllida Lloyd’s direction aptly balances the hope, humanity, and heartbreak that comes from constantly surviving odds.
In the end, it is your community that builds you, which is why we say, “It takes a village.” Therefore, you will smile as you see locals stand up to help Sarah in her makeshift plan to build her own home. Harriet Walter shines as the sweet Peggy offering her backyard for Sarah to build her home. Meanwhile, neighbors offer their aid to help build it, and Conleth Hill’s Aido is the perfect contractor to help her vision. While some, like Aido, may doubt Sarah’s plan to construct a home under 50,000 dollars, it is the childlike faith of her girls Molly McCann as Molly and Ruby Rose O’Hara as Emma that inspires. They are like two candles in a dark room for Sarah, and you fall for their adorable love and loyalty for a mother they are trying to understand as a guardian and protector. Overall, Sarah is surrounded by more love that vitriol, and the love of others is always what conquers the cruelty of one.
