Written by Malcolm Campbell and Clare Dunn
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Starring Clare Dunn, Ian Lloyd Anderson, Molly McCann, Ruby Rose O’Hara and Harriet Walter
Running time: 1 hour and 37 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for language and one moment of violence

by Audrey Callerstrom

About a year after the release of Wild Rose, the Scottish drama about a single mother (Jessie Buckley) with a Big Dream (being a country singer in America) comes a similar story, this time from Ireland. We first meet Sandra (Clare Dunn, who co-wrote the film with Malcolm Campbell) having a joyous time with her two young daughters, played by Molly McCann and Ruby Rose O’Hara. They sing and dance in the kitchen to Sia’s “Chandelier.” The tone changes as soon as the girl’s father, Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson) returns home to give Sandra a brutal beating. He steps on her arm, injuring her wrist, which she needs to work in her day jobs as a maid and a bar keep. Her oldest daughter runs to the store to tell the clerk to call the police, which allows Sandra to narrowly escape, but also leaves her with nowhere to live. She brings her girls to an airport hotel, one where the maître d demands they use a separate entrance.

Sandra’s Big Dream isn’t to become a famous singer, although she can sing. Sandra’s Big Dream is to build a house of her own for her family. As luck would have it, Peggy (Harriet Walter, Killing Eve), the kind, disabled doctor that Sandra cleans for, has space on her estate for Sandra to use. Herself is one of those uplifting indie dramas where a team of kind-hearted people come together to help a person in need. Aldo (Conleth Hill, Game of Thrones), an ornery contractor whom Sandra meets at the hardware store, is initially reluctant to help her, but he gives in. Also chipping in is one of the mothers from Sandra’s daughters’ school, a stranger, and one of her coworkers at the bar. We don’t want to see the realism of this situation. We want to feel hope. We want to see people taking time out of their day to help a struggling single mom who just wants a home for her family.

Dunn gives an understated performance, although the script leaves the character defined by her misfortunes. The choice to put Phyllida Lloyd behind the camera is not an appropriate fit for the source material. Lloyd directed 2011’s The Iron Lady, but more importantly, she directed 2008’s Mamma Mia! Lloyd likes to use music and song; the scene where Sandra starts singing happens unexpectedly. Instead of inserting another dramatic element, or letting the characters talk to each other while they build, Lloyd stays in montage mode. I counted three montages of home building set to song. Montages are used elsewhere as well. None of them really work. A Sia song pops up again (David Guetta’s pop hit from 2011, “Titanium”) while people hammer nails. I’m open to a montage, but they should be used sparingly, and the songs should fit. Here they’re used as a way to avoid exploring other ideas.

At a tight 97 minutes, the script brings up elements, like Sandra’s PTSD, her dependence on painkillers and the death of her mother, only to ignore them later on. I was, however, genuinely surprised by how the film unfolds in its final moments. With a few choices, it chooses perhaps the least popular path, and it’s a bold move. Herself is anchored by Dunn’s performance and some genuine moments, especially Dunn’s scenes with her on-screen daughters. But for the majority of its running time, it seems to coast on the indie drama formula.

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Herself will be available to watch exclusively to watch on Amazon Prime this Friday.