'Herself' rebuilds a woman's life — Sundance review

Herself follows a domestic abuse survivor and her two daughters as they literally rebuild their lives by building their own house

See all our reviews from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival here.

The opening scene of Phyllida Lloyd’s Irish drama Herself, which premiered in the World section at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, features a devastating act of domestic violence that is difficult to watch. It’s made even more difficult considering Sandra’s (co-screenwriter Clare Dunne) children were there. It isn’t what you’d expect from the director that brought us Mamma Mia!, perhaps one of the most benign movies ever made. However, for the better, the movie begins to show incredible empathy and warmth in the face of such tragedy. 

After the attack, Sandra separates from her husband Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson) and moves her two young girls Molly (Molly McCann) and Emma (Ruby Rose O’Hara) into a hotel with the help of a women’s shelter. However, revealing a flaw in the system, Gary still has visitation rights and sees the girls on the weekend, much to Sandra’s dismay. Life has become a struggle for her. She’s working multiple cleaner jobs — at a bar and the house of a doctor suffering from an injured hip — looking for permanent housing for her and the girls, all the while with a broken hand. 

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Incensed by the system’s inability to find her a permanent home and an offer of a plot of land on her property from Peggy (Harriet Walter), a doctor who Sandra’s mother worked for, Sandra makes the decision to build a house for her and her daughters. She finds a plan online and sets out to try to make her dreams come true. However, building a home on top of her other responsibilities and Gary breathing down her neck proves difficult. So, she seeks out the help of a contractor (Game of Thrones’ Conleth Hill) to help steer the project, which eventually attracts more volunteers. 

We’ve seen this kind of story before. However, Herself differentiates itself by avoiding a lot of the pitfalls of this kind of empowerment story. Rarely does it wade into melodrama and instead remains relatively grounded. That’s partially thanks to Dunne’s massively winning performance as Sandra, who is defiant in the face of her obstacles but clearly overwhelmed — as most people would be. The screenplay that she co-wrote with Malcolm Campbell effectively build Sandra as a character while also giving us a chance to really understand the pitfalls of the system — both governmentally and societally — that make it difficult for her to get back onto her feet. 

The movie has a deep understanding of the character’s plights and particularly how those plights make her stronger, but also how they sometimes defeat her. But in the face of it all Sandra persists with the help of those around her. The message of the movie is one of community, strength, and empowerment. And despite some questionable needle drops it never preaches that to you. Instead it gets its point across using its story. And what a story that is. It’s no wonder Amazon Studios acquired the film. It’s the kind of heartwarming project you want to sit on the couch and lose yourself to.