Directed by acclaimed Irish filmmaker, Alan Gilsenan, The Seven Ages of Noël Browne draws on previously unseen and newly discovered footage from four interviews recorded in 1997.
In 1997, shortly before his death, Dr Noël Browne gave a passionate and wide-ranging interview to producer and screen writer James Black. The footage, captured in his Connemara home, was originally research for a screenplay which James Black hoped to make. 25 years later, James Black’s widow, Nula Suchet offered the unedited footage to Yellow Asylum Films for this documentary which has been made with the participation and support of Browne’s two daughters, Ruth and Susan.
The intimate 80-minute documentary is an exploration of the dramatic life of Dr Noël Browne – a socialist challenger of consensus, radical Minister for Health, author of the Mother and Child Scheme, and nemesis of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid.
Alan Gilsenan, director of The Seven Ages of Noël Browne, said: “Noël Browne was that very rare thing – a genuinely radical and revolutionary politician who lived by his lights and was, in many respects, a man far ahead of his time. He has been dismissed in some circles as a bit of a crank, too awkward for his own good, but I think history will reflect more generously on his remarkable contribution to Irish life. Many years ago, when we made a controversial film about Ireland called The Road to God Knows Where, Browne wrote a generous and inspiring letter to me. In some ways, this new film is my belated reply.”
A Yellow Asylum Films Production for Oireachtas TV in association with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
Watch The Seven Ages of Noël Browne at 9:35pm on Monday July 31st on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.