The Outrun review: "Saoirse Ronan is exceptional in this affecting drama about addiction and hope"

The Outrun opened the 77th Edinburgh International Film Festival. Here’s our review… 

“It never gets easy - it just gets less hard.” So goes the advice to recovering alcoholic Rona (Saoirse Ronan) in this drama based on Amy Liptrot’s best-selling memoir. We first meet Rona when she is living back home in Orkney with her mother; a reluctant house guest whose friends have all moved away. 

There’s a telling scene where she asks a young man for a light in the street and awkwardly tries to strike up a conversation. She’s clearly desperate for friends, and the folks in her mother’s Bible club aren’t going to cut it. But going back to London would likely be too much temptation, as we see in the flashbacks that give glimpses into Rona’s descent into alcoholism - an addiction that cost her everything she held dear. 

There’s a stark contrast in style and pace between the scenes in the capital and those on the windswept islands. Some of Rona’s memories have the juddery excitement of a giddy party; others pause for a romantic moment with her ex-boyfriend. 

As the film progresses, the flashbacks become more disturbing - we join in Rona’s horror as she wakes up with no memory from a violent, drunken night. It all feels horribly believable, unlike many an onscreen alcoholic episode. Ronan is as mesmerising to watch as ever, whether in self-destructive mode or in a subdued depression, wondering if she will ever be happy again.

Nora Fingscheidt (System Crasher) directs with a slow and steady hand, taking time to explore both Rona’s moments of solitude and those in which she encounters others. From her loner father to her Alcoholics Anonymous comrades, each interaction sheds light on Rona’s psychological state. In the present, she is often a woman of few words, leaving Ronan to convey a range of emotions with her movements and micro-expressions. 

She’s supported by a strong cast including Stephen Dillane as her father, whose mental-health problems Rona fears she has inherited. Paapa Essiedu puts in a sympathetic performance as her one-time boyfriend Daynin, whose patience is tested to the limit. Meanwhile, Saskia Reeves is excellent as the well-meaning but disapproving mother.

The Outrun is released in UK cinemas on September 27. 

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