Not yet 30 years old and already with four Oscar nominations to her name, Saoirse Ronan may still be up for a fifth thanks to this huge turn as Rhona, a chaotic alcoholic who winds herself up Trying to concentrate back home on blown up Orkney.
We’ve already met Rona after laying out some sheets in an empty bar in London. The bartender gently escorted her to the door, continuing to help her finish all the unfinished drinks. This is a portal through which he is eventually dragged by a much less patient bouncer, and he and his possessions are dropped on the sidewalk. When a car stops and a stranger offers you a lift, you know in your heart that it will do no good.
The damage caused by Rona’s self-destructive spiral is painfully imprinted on the face of her beloved companion, Denin, played by i can destroy youPapa Essiedu. instantly reliable As a young couple with high hopes, it is sad to see Rhona push Deneen away because of the broken glass and blood spilled on the kitchen floor.
Not that Rona’s retreat home has been without its trials. Her farmer father (Stephen Dillon) has struggled with depression related to his bipolar diagnosis since she was a young girl. In a film full of departures, this pressure drives his mother (Saskia Reeves) away from him and into the arms of the particular brand of happy-clappy religion espoused by the Scottish islands. Tired of their burden, Rona sets out again, and finds solace in the barely inhabited areas of one of the islands. Here she can finally lose herself in the tunes she once danced to drunkenly in clubs, but now blasts on headphones while observing the flotsam and jetsam on foggy beaches.
Sparkling in the glow of stormy sea spray, Orkney is majestic – as is Saoirse Ronan
move on It is adapted from her brutally honest memoir by Scottish journalist Amy Liptrot, with German director Nora Fingscheidt as co-author. Fingscheidt handles her real-life trauma with great care, but without shielding us from the harsh realities of recovery.
Its Formally bold, too, breaking strides toward sobriety with narrative interludes in which Ronan – affecting a gentle Scottish accent – muses on topics ranging from myths of the island’s shape-shifting selkies to the fate of the endangered corncrake bird. Speaks lyrically. The latter here resembles the presence of slowly moving seals as well as a talisman. Orkney is majestic, glittering in the glow of stormy sea spray. As is the mighty Ronan.
The Outrun played at the Berlin Film Festival