THE OUTRUN

(Check out Chris Reed’s The Outrun movie review. It hits theaters Friday, October 4 via Sony Pictures. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)

There have been many books written and movies made about addiction and recovery. The subject is familiar. Some stories focus on the drinking and drugging, others on the arduous labor afterwards, and many do both. The Outrun, from director Nora Fingscheidt (The Unforgivable)—an adaptation of British journalist Amy Liptrot’s eponymous 2016 memoir—is among that third category, treating its challenging subject with both narrative delicacy and evocative imagery. What emerges by the end is a powerful exploration of healing in all its multifaceted complexity.

As someone who has himself struggled with these issues, I approach each new study of alcoholism with some trepidation. It’s never easy to observe people in the throes of self-destructive behavior. I’d rather watch the trials and tribulations of what happens once they give up the booze than the damage they do under its influence. This is why my favorite movie about addiction remains the 1983 Tender Mercies, where Robert Duvall is drunk in the first few minutes and then spends the rest of the time struggling with sobriety.

In The Outrun, however, Fingscheidt (who co-wrote the screenplay with Liptrot), carefully manages the successful balancing act of showing us main character Rona’s life before and after her decision to get clean. Cutting back and forth between Rona’s partying days in London and her life post-rehab in the Orkney Islands (where she grew up), just off the northern coast of Scotland, Fingscheidt combines the past and present into uneasy—but thematically invigorating—bedfellows. Flashbacks constantly interrupt the here and now, reminding Rona that though she might be better off than before, she’s only one slip away from falling back down. Sober alcoholics know that feeling well.

As Rona, Saoirse Ronan (Ammonite) brings an intensity to the part that pulls us directly into her troubles. When we meet her, she is, as she tells a hospital worker, “29, unemployed but with a Master’s in Biology.” Throughout the movie, she narrates the proceedings with facts not so much about her own journey but her surroundings, science, and other esoterica. Rona’s mind is nothing if not constantly active.

After an opening scene of blackout mayhem, Rona decides that she can’t continue as is, and we jump from there to the remote north, first on her father’s farm and then on to the tiny island of Papa Westray, aka Papay, where the constant wind serves as a purifying balm, of sorts. There, Rona conducts research for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, as well as takes long walks along the austere beaches, occasionally interacting with the locals. Little by little, she gains confidence, despite setbacks.

It’s a visually stunning work, cinematographer Yunus Roy Imer (Space Dogs) capturing the isolation and beauty of the Orkney locations, along with the seedy reality of Rona’s bar-filled London days. The supporting players do well in their smaller roles, but the film truly rests on star Ronan’s more than capable cinematic shoulders. She brings to vivid life the notion that while we can’t outrun our own history, we can nevertheless strive to make the future a healthier place.

– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)

Sony Pictures; Nora Fingscheidt; The Outrun

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