One of the favourite issues to deal with in severe dramas is addiction. Whether it be drinking, drugs, gambling, or any other human nature obsessions, they make for enjoyable, sometimes powerful drama which allows performers to get their teeth into. The Outrun deals with alcohol and the effects it has on a young woman who takes desperate measures to try and overcome the addiction. While this new film by German director Nora Fingscheidt has a solid lead and brilliant use of the setting, unfortunately, it could be called worthy, meaning its heart is in the right place but doesn’t go anywhere.

Rona, a student in London, finds that her drinking is leaving her life going into freefall. Trying to face her demons, she returns to her home on the Orkney Islands, where her father, a sheep’s father, struggles with his mental health, and her mother has turned to religion. Having the surroundings so unpopulated gives her time to think about her life in London and the mistakes that she has made, which makes her own battles seem so much more complicated.

Based on a best-selling novel, Fingscheidt uses the Scottish Isle quite brilliantly, capturing its beauty as well as its barren and isolating qualities. From the crashing waves to the quiet farmland to the remote areas where Rona finds herself when she takes a job with the RSPB, this would seem almost a perfect place to help with controlling an addiction. Yet, with everything else that Rona is dealing with, from the breakdown of a relationship to coping with her father’s mental health and watching her mother being devoured by religion, it’s not as easy as she thinks.

Played out in a series of flashbacks from her life in London, where she’s so drunk that everything becomes a blur, to failing in her University course and unable to stop her partner from leaving, it is interspersed with musings and poems about the scenic world she now finds herself in, a world where seal are frequent visitors and isolation is definitely a way of life, you do find yourself almost mesmerised by the experience. Yet, with so many plates being spun at once, it’s a surprise to see just how empty the whole film is.

It never goes anywhere. We watch as Rona’s world spirals out of control, and she needs to be away from the place where booze is readily available. We watch as she copes with her family’s issues, taking charge of lambing for her father or having to listen to her mother’s prayers at dinner. Even when she is placed in a remote cottage as part of her job, it looks incredible, and you feel the barrenness of the land, but you wonder where it is going. By the end of the film, it gives you no answers whatsoever. Some may find that perfect, but for me, it is more of a case of…what’s the point?

The film does work because of the scenery and setting but also for the central performance. Soasire Ronan has always been an actress who delivers regardless of the material, but here she gets to sink her teeth into some really juice sequences. As Rona, she offers a whole gambit of emotions that shows the range of this actress. From the drunken nights out to the quiet, introspective moments, she handles everything with real aplomb. She immerses herself fully into the character, and we watch this rollercoaster of life and witness a woman on a path of almost self-destruction. If the film is worth seeing, it’s for Ronan’s outstanding performance.

I really wanted to love The Outrun. It’s everything that a drama should be and promises to be. However, the lack of a solid plotline and a finale that leads to nowhere can be infuriating. A film that promises much but sadly only delivers a cracking performance.

3 out of 5

Director: Nora Fingscheidt

Starring: Soasire Ronan, Stephen Dillane, Saskia Reeves, Naomi Wirthner, Paapa Essisdu, Lauren Lyle, Nabil Elouahabi, Danyal Ismail

Written by: (also screen story) Nora Fingscheidt (also screen story and book) Amy Liptrot and (screen story) Daisy Lewis

Running Time: 118 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 27th September 2024