Could this be Saoirse Ronan's year? With a career already full of fine performances and four Oscar nominations before hitting 30 — the first was at just 13 for her breakout in Atonement — it feels like she already has one of those gold statuettes. It could, at last, become a reality. She's officially being put forward for Best Supporting Actress in Steve McQueen's Blitz, the opener at next month's London Film Festival, but now comes The Outrun. Word spread like wildfire at this summer's festivals that her performance was one of the best — if not the best — of the year so far and, with her name already in the hat for Best Actress, she increasingly looks like the one to beat.
It's a role and a film that demands all the talents of the standard bearer for the current crop of younger actors. Adapted from journalist Amy Liptrot’s memoir of the same name, it follows Rona (Ronan) as she stumbles on the solitary road from alcoholism to sobriety. Originally from Orkney, she's lived in London for some years, during which alcohol has come to rule her life. Therapy groups and spells in rehab haven't helped and, with her relationship with her boyfriend Daynin (Paapa Essiedu) in tatters, she decides to return home. Being with her parents brings its own pressures, so she retreats to a solitary cottage on a remote island and, surrounded by its savage beauty, starts to find a glimmer of hope for what will never be an easy future.
German director Nora Fingscheidt's experience at the helm of the shattering System Crasher (2019) tells us immediately that we're in safe hands for this deliberately unglamorous dive into the painful and complex world of addiction. In the central role, Ronan's transparently honest style of acting is a gift, and here she takes it to another level entirely. Any inhibitions are thrown into the wild winds of Orkney as she immerses herself in a character whose alcoholism makes her vicious and destructive, with all the inevitable misery that follows. Neither the director nor actor shies away from showing us the devastating results and the struggle that goes with trying to break free from its grip.
Told in a non-linear style and embellished with Ronan's voiceover, the story moves back and forth from her stay on Orkney to her life in London, but it's the memories of her childhood that explain at least some of that inner turbulence she feels powerless to shake off. Her father (Stephen Dillane) was — and still is — bipolar, with periods of severe depression and episodes of destructively manic energy. Like any daughter, she adores her dad and witnessing his behavior constantly breaks her heart, both as a child and as a grown woman. Her relationship with her deeply religious mother (Saskia Reeves) is strained, as she feels pressurized to follow the same path, one that she regards as a simplistic cure-all. Whether in London or with her parents, there are triggers all around her and it’s only separation from all of them that has any chance of bringing her back to something approaching a stable and sober life.
Small details say a lot in the film and Fingscheidt rejoices in them. On the island, Rona meets the owner of the grocery store, who quickly recognizes her as a fellow alcoholic. He's been sober for 12 years, 4 months and 29 days, an achievement in what seems like a safe environment. Yet, as he stands at the shop counter, behind him are shelves laden with alcohol — spirits, liqueurs, wines, beers, the lot. It's as if they're constantly taunting him and, although we never see him sell any of it, there must be times when he has to turn and look temptation in the eye, simply as part of his job.
On a larger scale, the sea in all its icy splendor is a massive and constant presence, with goosebump-inducing photography to reinforce that sense of isolation and distance from life on the mainland. Its myths, especially the legend of the selkies (shapeshifting seals that take on human form when they step on land), are a major thread throughout the film and always on Rona’s mind: she has an affinity with the folklore – and the seals themselves, whose heads bob above the water on calmer days, people-watching with bemused curiosity — but the addition of animation to further illustrate this feels superfluous and out of kilter with the rest of the film.
If The Outrun has a problem, it’s in its pacing, with the final third feeling repetitive, but you're inclined to forgive the few shortcomings in a film with such power, both in its visuals and its story. Best of all, you have Saoirse Ronan in what is the performance of her career. And that is something to treasure.
The Outrun is released in UK cinemas on 27 September and in the US on 4 October.
