“I miss it. I miss how good it made me feel.”

Rona

The Outrun is a layered depiction of alcohol rehabilitation, adapted from Scottish journalist Amy Liptrot’s memoir, with a focus on resilience rather than trite lessons. Elevating The Outrun are writer-director Nora Fingscheidt’s cinematic choices and Saoirse Ronan’s captivatingly raw central performance. Opening with the myth of the selkie is an apt metaphor for the restless Rona who has returned from London to her family farm on the Orkney Islands. Although Rona’s alcohol dependency is signposted at the outset, she is already in recovery in the film’s present day and Fingscheidt uses overlapping storytelling gradually to reveal Rona’s past as a graduate student in London. A third layer is Rona’s mind, showing her current focus which might include new information she is absorbing or ruminations about her childhood. In the first half, these feel chaotic but they become more grounded as time progresses. Rona’s bi-polar father seems to serve as a constant reminder of what she could become (“if you go mad in Orkney, they just fly you out”) while her mother offers religious support that Rona cannot accept. The colour and momentum of London sequences are contrasted with the desaturated, cloudy light of the islands — often Saoirse’s eyes are the most vibrant thing on screen. This use of colour appears to reflect Rona’s connection with life, warmer tones only arriving late in the film. The sound design also deserves a mention, from the ever-present wind rising and falling to the unorthodox juxtaposition of island nature with dance music through Rona’s headphones, perhaps a vain attempt artificially to inject old energy into her new life. There is no shortage of films which tackle alcoholism and many offer greater drama through devastating tragedy or feel-good catharsis; instead The Outrun blends the elements of its film-making into a very personal experience of recovery, trusting that Rona’s resilience alone will prove edifying.

9/10