When you think of portrayals of addiction in Scottish cinema, your mind may wander to the likes of James Reid’s Limbo (2024), Ken Loach’s My Name is Joe (1998), and of course Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996). The Outrun, Nora Fingscheidt’s adaptation of the 2016 memoir by Amy Liptrot, is the latest film to explore this difficult issue. Compared to some of its forebears however, it does not do so in a particularly searing or shocking manner – there is no swimming down the pipes of disgusting toilets here (although there is swimming). The Outrun is instead a stunning and deeply poignant character drama that proves to be another feather in Saoirse Ronan’s cap.
After coming close to oblivion while living in London and reeling from an alcohol addiction, twenty-nine-year-old Rona (Ronan) travels back home to see her parents in Orkney off the North coast of Scotland. While there, she attempts to come to terms with her past and find the strength to sober up for good. This is made more difficult by an initial reluctance to engage with those around her, troubling flashbacks of her past, and her father’s crippling bipolar disorder. Her life is forever poisoned by alcohol but not permanently stained by it, and Rona’s task now is to gel the person that she was with the new her that she is discovering in one of the UK’s most rural, isolated places.
The Outrun paints a mesmerising picture of how Rona’s past continues to define her, swapping back between here and now in non-chronological order. It cuts gracefully between memory and the present in a manner not too dissimilar to Aftersun (2022). And like Charlotte Wells’ incredible debut, The Outrun’s visions of the past are laced with more than an echo of tragedy, asking how a troubled history can be reconciled with a brighter future. This method of storytelling also prevents the film from falling into any of the established liches or footfalls of memoir adaptations. This is not a trawl through the motions, but a fractured piece of storytelling that reads less like a novel and more like a collage. Watching in discontinuous time how Rona falls off the deep end in her battle with addiction makes for difficult but compelling viewing. Fingscheidt is careful to at once paint Nora in an empathetic light while simultaneously ensuring there is no doubt as to how bad things have become.
This is a story of addiction, recovery, and belonging based in the division between urban and rural life. Rona, in one of the numerous mini-monologues about life in Orkney, draws a stark comparison when she says her family live on the same amount of land as thousands of people in Hackney. Fingscheidt brings the colour and feel of Orkney to life in a spellbinding fashion, marking it out as a place of healing while also presenting its own challenges. The sound design, making every rumble of the waves keenly felt and trading time with Rona’s club music in a subtly phenomenal fashion, allows you to tune into the tremors of the island that Rona talks about. You actively participate in this journey as Rona rediscovers what home looks and feels like.
Ronan is no stranger to Scottish roles, having previously played the titular role in Mary Queen of Scots (2018). But here she is even more impressive, and just how well she fits the role makes your heart sing. Co-producing alongside her now husband Jack Lowden, Rona feels like a role that allows all the sides of Ronan to shine; the highs and lows, the comedy, the rawness that sometimes needs to take over. She plays the drunkard with frightening commitment, and her depiction of the consequences never once borders on stereotyping. This is not a beautiful journey that Rona has begun – it is messy, with wrong turns and dead ends lurking everywhere ready to throw her back to square one. But both Ronan and Fingscheidt capture Rona’s strife with such remarkable colour and beauty. Even the simplest moments, such as during a revelatory FaceTime chat with her best friend, trigger a wave of adoration.
The Outrun is a stunningly filmed and incredibly powerful look at how addiction can tear you apart from the inside, and the difficulties involved in overcoming it. It is also a deeply respectful and moving portrait of rediscovering home. Ronan is utterly astonishing in the best role of her career, throughout a film that more than lives up to her talent, and which puts Orkney on the map in a way few other films have done before.
The Outrun received its UK premiere on 15th August 2024 as part of the 77th Edinburgh International Film Festival. It releases in cinemas from September 27th.