O lugar da esperança

I liked it -much more than previously expected, actually.

Might anyone help me to know, what's the Irish word Aido uses at the end of the movie? Something like 'Mahha' to my ears, regarding helping people each other.

I think It was ameaningful word but couldn't find It out!!

It's a beautiful emotional movie. Well it has its corny moments but it's still great with a nice story and powerful topics. Lead performance is nice and real. Herself is a very good lovely movie that has a beautifully written story that tackles important topics.

... but ultimately empowering, inspiring, enabling and encouraging, that from a beaten and broken relationship, with all the odds overwhelmingly in opposition, the spirit and drive to fight and survive remains, through an incredibly realistic performance from Clare Dunn who builds a performance of immense authenticity, courage and determination.

"Herself" (2020 release from Ireland; 97 min.) brings the story of Sandra and her family. As the movie opens, Sandra is playful with her 2 young daughters , but when her husband Gary gets home, he is enraged and beats her up badly. Sandra and her girls leave Gary and find temporary shelter with government help. But things are tough. Sandra works 2 jobs, and still can barely keep things together. Then one day she sees an ad for self-building a house for only 35,000 Euros... At this point we are less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from British director Phyllida Lloyd, who has previously brought us the excellent "The Iron Lady" and the original "Mama Mia". But in truth, this film is a labor of love from Clare Dunne, the Irish actress who not only plays the lead character Sandra, but also came up with the story and co-wrote the script. It is clear she gives her all in this film. Beware: this is not an easy film to watch, for a number of reasons (the spousal abuse scenes are brutal), but also because of the thick *and authentic( Irish accents, which at times entire sentences went over my head. Apart from the relationship drama, the film also shines a light on an urgent social need in Dublin, namely the lack of affordable housing, But wait, where have we heard this before? Indeed this very theme was also central to the 2018 Irish film "Rosie", starring Sarah Greene. Back to "Herself": much of the film you get this sense of dread, as if yet more bad stuff can happen to Sarah. A comedy this ain't.

"Herself" premiered at the 2020 Sundance film festival, yes exactly a year ago already. Then a little thing called COVID-19 changed the world, and wrecked the movie industry to its core. The movie was given a limited one-week theater run the first week of 2021, before it will shift to Amazon Instant Video. My art-house theater here in Cincinnati thankfully had it on its slate this week. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay (about 10 people). If you are in the mood for a heavy social and relationship drama, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

In tone and aesthetic, Phyllida Lloyd's 'Herself' is reminiscent of dramatic, intimate films by Ken Loach or Mike Leigh. Sadly, neither the script nor the treatment of the story are up to the task of the great films directed by those veteran British filmmakers. While it has its good intentions, solid performances, and is well-told by the filmmakers who obviously have invested an inkling of heart into the effort, the film serves up some clichés and struggles to maintain a balance between a heartwarming story of a mother's love and commentary on a system that stacks the odds against the victim.