Courtesy of Sundance Institute
PARK CITY, Utah—While watching The Outrun, a harsh but gorgeous portrait of a young woman grappling with alcoholism starring Saoirse Ronan, I thought a lot about a piece of wisdom shared by many therapists and wellness influencers on Instagram: When a person becomes accustomed to living in traumatic chaos, their mind starts to perceive peace as boring. When mess has been the norm for too long, it can start to feel safer and more comfortable than the healthy stasis we all need to thrive.
Ronan embodies that truth as The Outrun’s spiky, deeply vulnerable protagonist, Rona, whose troubled childhood reverberates through her adult present each time she reaches for a bottle. When she’s sober, she’s brilliant and sarcastic and utterly charming; catch her when she’s drunk, however, and you’ll discover her cruel side, the violent mask she uses to push away anyone who might try to ground her in reality. At the start of the film, which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival, the character returned to her home in Scotland after spending 90 days in rehab—a decision she made only after a night out in London went terribly wrong.
Adapted from Amy Liptrot’s bestselling memoir, The Outrun takes us from London to Orkney—a set of islands off Scotland—and then to Papa Westray, an island even more remote than Orkney. Rona’s search for healing takes her to remote extremes, to places where the crashing waves mimic the turbulent ebb and flow of her inner life. Director Nora Fingscheidt, who also wrote the screenplay, renders her protagonist with brutal honesty, offering us glimpses at Rona’s wit and effervescent charm only to remind us how her addiction corrodes her every positive attribute, warping them into deceit and manipulation.