The Outrun ★★★★

Released: 27th September 2024

Directed: Nora Fingscheidt

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Saskia Reeves, Stephen Dillane, Nabil Elouahabi

At around the halfway mark of The Outrun, Rona (Saoirse Ronan) breaks her sobriety. We’ve already followed snippets of her journey through alcoholism and her resultant abstinence, and after around one hour of ups-and-downs, Rona is back to square one in an instant. This is the cyclical frustration of addiction, backed up by a fellow recovering alcoholic who at one point tells Rona that it will get easier and less hard, but it’ll never be easy. Director Nora Fingscheidt, who co-wrote the screenplay with Amy Liptrot, upon whose memoir The Outrun is based on, always resists tying up Rona’s journey and addiction neatly. Each step that Rona takes might seem tiny, but they all require immense effort.

After leaving rehab, Rona returns home to the Orkney Islands to stay with her separated mother and father. Her relationship with ex-boyfriend Daynin (Paapa Essiedu) has ended, and Rona finds a new focus on the remote isles taking up work for a local nature organisation. Through these present day scenes and recurring flashbacks, we learn about Rona’s life and subsequent issues with alcohol abuse. The Outrun is a restless and jittery film, packed with impressive visuals and sound design that mirror Rona’s mindset, and with an original score that mixes ambient music and electronica.

Fingscheidt captures Rona’s drunken episodes distorted in mirrors, or shows a rotting apple core as her addiction worsens, alongside other visual cues that consistently work to reinforce Rona’s difficult journey. The jaw-dropping scenery of the Orkney Islands is also utilised to contribute to the frequently dreamlike atmosphere of The Outrun. Liptrot’s contribution to the screenplay and story are clear and welcome; the author’s memoir, which released in 2016, detailed her own return to Orkney after becoming an alcoholic in London. This personal edge from someone understanding the journey that Rona is going on elevates The Outrun from simple emotional drama fare into something deeply moving and human.

As the conduit for Liptrot’s writings, Ronan is spectacular, with a performance that is a high point in an already truly impressive career. Ronan brings great layers to Rona, creating a character that is brimming with warmth, life, and the deep longing to recover from her addiction. This is as good as Ronan has ever been, up there with her best performances such as those in Lady Bird (2017) or Little Women (2019). Stephen Dillane also shines as Rona’s father, whose own mental health issues are depicted thoughtfully and effectively.

Fingscheidt doesn’t always avoid the dangers of being overly sentimental or stylised; the montage ending of The Outrun is powerful but cloying alongside the preceding naturalism. Generally, however, this very human story is told respectfully, and the occasional missteps don’t detract from the sheer power on show. The Outrun asks many questions, but one which sticks out is one that Rona asks: “How do you survive and be happy sober?” The person she asks this to, a fellow recovering alcoholic, can’t answer it, and this lack of solution is what Fingscheidt and Liptrot traverse best in this impressive drama.