The following contains spoilers for the 2024 film, The Outrun as well as the author’s personal interpretation of it.
A Saoirse Ronan movie where she has multi-colored hair? Count me in!
The Outrun is a film that deserves far more attention than its getting. Every time I ask someone if they’ve seen it, they’ve never heard about it—so I’m here to raise awareness and make sure it gets the recognition it deserves.
Based on a book by Amy Liptrot, the film mostly revolves around themes of alcohol addiction, the personal and family struggles that come along with it, and how reconnecting with nature is a form of reconnecting with ourselves.
The main character, Rona, played by Saoirse Ronan, leaves the city and returns to the rural Orkney Islands of Scotland to try to stay sober.
First of all, Ronan delivers a performance that feels authentic, perfectly capturing the ups and downs of a struggle with addiction. We see her at the worst of her addiction, the times in between, and the reality of her thoughts in the early stages of sobriety.
The film covers some dark, bleak topics that Ronan does justice. In one particularly hard-to-watch scene, Rona wakes up in a hospital after taking a beating. Her first question to the ex that comes to visit her is “Want to get a drink?” She is caught in a vicious cycle, escaping from something persistent, but elusive.
Apart from Ronan’s impressive acting, this film was just so visually stunning.
Ronan takes walks along a gorgeous Scottish coastline, picking up different types of seaweed to study. It’s extremely aesthetically pleasing to watch. I really loved how this film captures the idea of integrating nature and the role reconnecting, our place in it, can have in healing mind, body, and soul. Sometimes, we need a reminder that we are part of something bigger. The seaweed seems to take on more meaning as the film progresses. Rona develops a near obsession with it.
Yet, at the same time, nature is brutal teacher. Though Ronan goes to the moody Scottish island to escape the pressures of society and the temptations to relapse, the rugged, lonely, island almost feels like an externalization of Ronan’s inner turmoil. Gray. Uneasy. Battered. It’s a landscape that doesn’t romanticize Ronan’s inner demons.
The film is also full of beautiful, nature-driven symbolism.
In one particularly poignant scene, Rona delivers a lamb on the farm, which symbolizes her rebirth and start on a new life path. It’s a powerful moment that parallels Rona’s own rebirth.
Fun fact: Saoirse actually delivered the lamb herself!
This movie emphasizes how nature has the power to recenter and renew ourselves into something bigger and more meaningful. In that way, it empowers us to drive our own stories.
Personally, I’m a big fan of “set as a plot device” in films. Besides the visual appeal, the scenery and weather seem to mirror what Ronan’s character is going through. The Outrun illustrates how nature can be both a peaceful escape and a challenging force all at once.
The film’s most powerful takeaway is can’t just go into nature and expect something out of it. It takes patience for it to answer our most existential questions. The patience required to get to that point are a lesson in and of itself. By surrendering to its wisdom and power, the answers will come.
In a beautiful and hopeful final scene, Rona stands on the rugged Scottish coastline where waves crash. She puts her hands out, pretending to “conduct” the ocean’s waves. The scene is a poignant reminder that its never too late to take control.
Going back to the rural Scottish countryside set the framework for the main character realize she’s part of something much bigger.
And this newfound sense of belonging makes her more resilient, leading her toward a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
The film is based on a true story of the book’s author, Amy Liptrot. In March 2023, Liptrot posted to her Instagram that she was 12 years sober.
“Spring equinox. Twelve years sober today,” Liptrot captions the post. “I truly have a life beyond the wildest imaginings of when I entered that treatment centre 12 years ago, a life far beyond my deepest hopes when I was even 2 or 3 or 4 years sober…So this is my annual earnest post to say I know, I have experienced, that change is possible. If you feel that alcohol is taking more from you than you’re getting from it, another way can be possible – can be so beautiful – even if it’s hard to see right now.”
I’m not the only one who found this movie compelling: The film has nabbed a 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And personally, I think it’s a sleeper.
Trendy Matters has no affiliation or partnership with any of the above-mentioned topics in any way. This article is for informational purposes.
