Nuala - must watch programme

orangeman · March 20, 2012, 11:44:45 AM

I watched this last night - it's a programme on the late Nuala Ó'Faoláin. http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1141215

Marion Finucane who made the programme was a close friend of hers and it charts Nuala's troubled life from birth to death.

The content is very revealing and the honesty shown in the programme is shocking.

It's a very, very sad story of a woman who lived a very full life but who seemed never to find happiness for long enough to appreciate it.

I'd recommend it and whilst watching I couldn't help but think of the turmoil the poor woman was going through and was at the same time wondering what I myself would do in the same situation and was Jim Stynes who died yesterday any or much different ?.

From the Bunker · March 20, 2012, 01:16:57 PM

Marion Finucane = Over paid Lads club RTE. These sort of programmes wreck my head and make me thank god for Multiple channel TV where we are don't have to pander to the importance of D4.

Tubberman · March 20, 2012, 01:54:04 PM

Quote from: From the Bunker on March 20, 2012, 01:16:57 PM
Marion Finucane = Over paid Lads club RTE. These sort of programmes wreck my head and make me thank god for Multiple channel TV where we are don't have to pander to the importance of D4.

True in many ways - if she wasn't a friend of Marian Finucane's, there probably wouldn't have been a documentary about her.
But having said that, it was a very interesting programme, well worth watching. As Orangeman said, Nuala O'Faoilan had a very eventful life, was extremely intelligent and yet could never find happiness in any of her many relationships - and it's a massive cliche but that seems to have stemmed from her childhood and her relationship both of her parents.
She was very candid and how her cancer changed her view on life, and that she basically wanted out - "the goodness was gone out of life" once she was diagnosed.

armaghniac · March 20, 2012, 02:18:38 PM

QuoteThese sort of programmes wreck my head

Did you watch it?

From the Bunker · March 20, 2012, 03:17:23 PM

Quote from: armaghniac on March 20, 2012, 02:18:38 PM
QuoteThese sort of programmes wreck my head

Did you watch it?

Caught the first couple of minutes. Switched over, it was probably a good documentary. Just I find Marion Finucane a dose.

Declan · March 20, 2012, 03:28:55 PM

Funnily enough the longer the programme went on the less sympathy I found myself having for her. Very talented woman but the overwhelming feeling I got was that she was very selfish - possibly unfair but there you have it

orangeman · March 20, 2012, 03:37:36 PM

Quote from: Declan on March 20, 2012, 03:28:55 PM
Funnily enough the longer the programme went on the less sympathy I found myself having for her. Very talented woman but the overwhelming feeling I got was that she was very selfish - possibly unfair but there you have it

Her direct family weren't putting any gloss on her character and very honestly told it as it was. I thought it was almost brutal in terms of the honesty - it certainly was warts and all stuff.

No wonder her book "Are you somebody ?" became a best seller.

Tubberman · March 20, 2012, 03:38:25 PM

Quote from: Declan on March 20, 2012, 03:28:55 PM
Funnily enough the longer the programme went on the less sympathy I found myself having for her. Very talented woman but the overwhelming feeling I got was that she was very selfish - possibly unfair but there you have it

I'd say she was - that was also an impression I got. At different times when it suited her, she cut off contact with her family and with Nell McCafferty. She even fought with an 8-year old girl for attention. Still a very interesting person and story though.

Dubh driocht · March 20, 2012, 09:00:48 PM

I think Orangeman has it right here- this was as much about a history of modern Ireland through women's eyes as about a flawed individual. Her sisters called it fairly; it was ,indeed, brutally honest. It would have been interesting to get Nell Mc Cafferty's view on it but noticed she ( along with the male writer O'Faolain allegedly 'really' loved ) didn't want to co-operate with the makers. While I have no time for D4 types talking about themselves again, O'Faolain was talented and articulate. Her petrified honesty on the Finucane show was powerful -it was interesting -and ironic as OM notes -to compare with how Jim Stynes dealt with his terminal illness.Also thought Finucane was reasonably objective and ,having lost a child herself to leukemia, showed insight and understanding.