Flicks, Liam Maguren
Herself wants audiences to leave feeling both uplifted and feeling OK to ask for help. If the temperature of my heart was anything to go by, I’d say it succeeded.
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Herself
Sandra (Clare Dunne), determined to provide her two young daughters with a home, decides to build one from scratch in this drama from filmmaker Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!, The Iron Lady). Herself premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2020.
"Sandra, an Irish single mother of two young girls, faces a dire situation. An attack by her abusive ex-husband and a housing crisis in Dublin leave her living in fear and unable to find a new home. Temporarily living with her two daughters in a cramped hotel room and battling a system that refuses to help her, Sandra is determined to create some stability and security for the three of them. Seeing no other options, she decides to build her own house, literally and metaphorically pouring the foundation of her own future... Herself creates a complex and optimistic portrait of a woman fighting for her dignity as she rebuilds a life for herself and her daughters." (Sundance Film Festival)
2021Rating: MA15+, Strong themes and coarse language97 minsIreland, UK
Drama
Herself / Reviews
Wall Street Journal
Herself has a largeness of spirit that finds room for its passionate, funny and fiercely desperate heroine and everyone who rallies around her.
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San Francisco Chronicle
When not sentimental and dull, Herself is jaw-dropping and terrifying...
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RogerEbert.com
With her elegant, restrained and quietly devastating performance... Clare Dunne is a revelation.
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Variety
Lloyd could be the sixth woman to break the Oscars’ glass ceiling - that is, assuming the right distributor recognises the niche this film fills, and how brilliantly Lloyd does it.
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IndieWire
While Dunne and Campbell’s script is occasionally given over to cliches, Herself often manages to subvert them at the last minute...
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Hollywood Reporter
It doesn’t help that Dunne has written for herself such a saintly, oddly dull character. A few more flaws might have made this more interesting...
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Little White Lies
A nuanced portrait of a woman rediscovering herself after years of living in fear.
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