The Outrun

UK Release Date. 27 September 2024
Certification. 15
Running Time. 1 hour 58 mins
Director. Nora Fingscheidt
Cast. Stephen Dillane, Paapa Essiedu, Saskia Reeves, Saoirse Ronan.
Rating. 74%

Review.

Saoirse Ronan has already established herself as one of the most talented actresses of her generation. By the age of 25, she had already received four Academy Award nominations [Atonement, Brooklyn, Lady Bird and Little Women]. The acclaimed actress seems to choose her projects with great care, often attracted to films with complex female characters. Characters who are intelligent, perceptive and ultimately indelible. And so it is with her character, Rona in Nora Fingscheidt's The Outrun. 

Based on Amy Liptrot's 2016 bestselling memoir, Ronan turns in yet another impressive performance as the young Orcadian struggling with the destructive effects of alcoholism. She does not rely on flamboyant exaggeration or wild, lavish, theatrical extravagance, instead, she relies upon a more understated, but nonetheless full-bodied, performance. One that is authentic, poignant and at times too painful to watch. 

Initially, Rona is desperate to return to London, but at the same time equally terrified of the consequences, namely slipping back into an alcohol-fuelled existence. Her salvation, she slowly realises, lies in a more isolated and reclusive reality. Rona, aiming to distance herself even farther from civilisation than mainland Orkney, retreats to the tiny island of Papa Westray (or Papay, as the island is known to local residents). Here, during a brutal winter in a spartan bird warden's cottage, Rona is forced to face her life choices [Amy Liptrot spent two winters here, writing her memoir].

The plot is loosely defined, but assuringly familiar. The Outrun is a recovery narrative, with a fairly predictable trajectory of stuttering steps forward and dispiriting setbacks. That's probably why German director Fingscheidt opted to tell Rona's story elliptically and for long stretches, in a nonlinear fashion. The details of Rona's life in London fill in slowly, along with experiences from her past - particularly her father's bipolar disorder. Much of The Outrun is structured as flashbacks or fractured recollections. It takes a while to get used to this, we jump back and forth so frequently that sometimes only the changing colour of Rona's hair indicates the position in the timeline. But the uncertainty eventually starts to make sense. We are, in a way, inside Rona's mind, experiencing the fits and starts of her journey. After all, recovery is hardly a linear process.

The natural world plays a key role in Rona's healing, and Fingscheidt's capturing of the earthy greens and greys of the islands is near perfection. You can almost taste the salt in the air and feel the sting of driven rain on your face - clean, bracing, a little painful and utterly exhilarating. The tiny island of Papa Westray stands in sharp contrast to the hedonistic, hazy depiction of life in London. Ultimately Rona seeks solace in the freezing cold water, the sand between her toes and the unexpected mysteries of seaweed. Fingscheidt produces a rich, vivid and pulsating film that favours texture, auditory and olfactory experimentation over plot.

The film falters a little in the second half for the same reason most films about addiction falter; the points in the recovery journey are all too predictable - despair, hope, relapse, recovery? But throughout it all, Ronan's performance holds our attention. I would dare to say The Outrun would likely be too draining to endure were it not for the beguiling presence at its core. She is astonishing, able to harness both fragility and determination in equal measure; as effervescent even in sobriety as the uncompromising wilderness she has chosen as her remedy.

Could The Outrun be the film that finally wins Saoirse Ronan an Academy Award? The Irish-American actress has never won one, despite being nominated four times. She would certainly be a worthy winner on the back of such an impressive performance.