Saoirse Ronan is a tour-de-force as Rona, a young alcoholic living in bustling London who returns home to the hauntingly stunning Orkney Islands of Scotland to find sobriety in writer/director Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun. Adapted from Amy Liptrot’s best-selling memoir, it is a beautifully crafted character drama that may follow in familiar footsteps while telling its story, but nevertheless is a sensitive, spiritual, and moving portrait of recovery and self-discovery.
Rona is staying with her mother (Saskia Reeves) while helping her father (Stephen Dillane) on his farm in Orkney, and as the days pass without her having a drink, the audience revisits her past where it all went wrong. Like in many cases, her drinking became a coping mechanism for things that deeply affected her throughout her life beginning in her childhood. She watched her mother find solace in religion in the midst of her father fighting his bipolar disorder. In Rona’s eyes, her mom left her dad for God and she has never truly forgiven her for that.
As we follow Rona in London, she’s wild and free, living as if they’re no consequences that await her. She’s spiraling completely out of control as she falls in love with Daynin (Paapa Essiedu). Sadly, she becomes unrecognizable to him and has no other choice but to leave her. Rona was closer to the edge than she even knew before this, but her breakup sends her plummeting right off of it – harshly hitting rock bottom. Orkney is the last place she wanted to be, but it’s where her journey through personal agony, regret, and healing needed to go.
The Outrun’s shapeless narrative structure is rather affective by the end. The assured, steady direction of Fingscheidt is the audience’s guiding light. Howbeit, there’s a real risk that exists in having us feel disconnected from Rona’s road to introspection as we’re yanked in and out of different times and places in her life. But rest assured, no matter where we are within the story, Ronan is right there exhibiting rawness and authenticity. Her commitment makes it feel effortless while watching Rona struggle and suffer.
The score by John Gürtler and Jan Miserre is fresh and stirs up the emotion running through the film. And the way Fingscheidt captures the gorgeous landscapes is breathtaking. She empowers nature and its striking scenery to be this poetic character that’s equally metaphorical and mystical. There’s so much beauty that Rona didn’t know existed until she saw it with open and clear eyes. The Outrun succeeds in exploring addiction and mental illness with intelligence and empathy without ignoring the complexities of such a crippling disease.
At the end of the film there’s quite a profound, cathartic sequence that washes over us. It’s that one magnificent moment Fingscheidt has been leading us to where everything comes crashing together. It’s a high for us and a new breath for Rona.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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