20s Movie Review - Herself

Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Clare Dunne, Molly McCann, Ruby Rose O’Hara, Conleth Hill, Ian Lloyd Anderson, Harriet Walker, Cathy Belton

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 CHALLENGE MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 16: A MOVIE DIRECTED BY A WOMAN
 
Description: A young mother (Clare Dunne) escapes her abusive husband (Ian Lloyd Anderson) and fights back against a broken housing system. She gets out to build her own home and in the process rebuilds her life and re-discovers herself.

Review: We meet Sandra, who escapes her abusive husband Gary, with her two daughters Molly and Emma. While living in a hotel, Sandra is on an endless waiting list for social housing. When Peggy, the woman whose house Sandra cleans, discovers that Sandra is trying to find a way to build her own house. While Peggy has an unused plot of land, she offers Sandra this piece of land and will help her financially. Now Sandra just has to find the right workers.  

Meanwhile, Sandra still has to deal with her ex Gary, who is also the father of her daughters. While he has the right to see them and Sandra has to keep up with her end of the deal by taking them to Gary, one of her daughters refuses to visit her father. She locks herself in the closet and even wets herself. Sandra keeps her with her, but she is in trouble because this way her daughter missed too many visits to her father, which was an agreement. When Sandra is questioned about the abuse, the judge asks her why she didn’t leave Gary earlier. The response that Sandra had really left an impression on me: “Why do you always ask why I didn’t leave him and don’t ask him why he didn’t stop?” This hit me.

“Herself” is a beautiful, warm, empathetic film that will give you a good cry, about female resilience that captures very well the current time and the challenges surrounding affordable housing.  

Rating: 4/ 5