Sundance 2024: Saoirse Ronan is Phenomenal in Terrific ‘The Outrun’

by Alex Billington
January 30, 2024

I saved the best for last and it was entirely worth the wait. My very last in-person screening (after 30 other films) at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival ended up being my favorite film of the entire festival. It may even end up on my Top 10 at the end of the year. The Outrun is the latest film from talented German filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt, best known for her German film System Crasher from 2019. This time she’s adapting a book from Scottish writer Amy Liptrot, telling a story about a young woman in Scotland trying to figure out her chaotic life. It’s everything great cinema is about – all of the elements of filmmaking integrated perfectly together to bring us into the life of Rona as she returns to the Orkney Islands to calm herself and work on her addiction to alcohol. It’s always hard to tell before watching a film whether it will be any good based on a plot description, but this is a film that transcends any & all descriptions as a truly remarkable work of art.

The Outrun is visual and aural storytelling at its finest, where the sound design matters as much as all the performances. The film is based on the book by Amy Liptrot, adapted for the screen by Nora Fingscheidt & Amy Liptrot together, from a screenstory by Liptrot & Fingscheidt and Daisy Lewis. Finally a proper story about addiction / alcoholism and the endless battle to overcome it, that doesn’t dip into the usual cliches and cheesy tricks most films employ when dealing with addiction. Saoirse Ronan stars as Rona, a young woman who grew up on the Orkney Islands working on a farm before her parents split and she moved down to London. She loves to get as drunk as possible almost every night, until it finally catches up to her after a breakup. She realizes she needs to work on herself – going to rehab first, then moving up to Orkney with her parents, then joining AA and trying anything she can to stay sober and most importantly – stay happy. As simple as this may seem, it’s seeped in Scottish lore about selkies, and is openly honest about how hard it is to overcome addiction and live a life that isn’t destroyed by alcohol (or mental illness or drugs or any vices).

How Nora Fingscheidt adapts this story for the screen is nothing short of astonishing, utilizing every aspect of cinema to make it an all-encompassing experience. I’m fascinated by how the sound design actually plays into the plot, which is not that common (you must listen to understand!). Rona discusses the rumbling of the islands, which is a sound heard throughout, and she also takes a job where she drives around at night to listen for a particular bird call. All the mesmerizing cinematography from DP Yunus Roy Imer is bliss. The editing is phenomenal. The finale made my heart race like no other film at Sundance this year. There’s some intense editing choices throughout The Outrun, but they are important to understanding her mindset, while also taking us back through her experiences of her past while she tries to fashion a new future. This editing may be bothersome, but it absolutely worked for me. It’s an especially cinematic representation of Rona’s chaotic mentality. It’s not easy to pull this off unless one has a masterful understanding of how to make films and bring them together and create something distinct from the story in the pages of the script.

This is another Best of the Festival instant favorite. I could talk about it for hours and hours. Saoirse Ronan is on a whole other level in here. Her performance has to span years of time, yet also has to capture all the nuances of alcoholism. I almost always love her in any role she plays, though this one will stand out in her filmography as one of her best. I am in awe about how this film turned out – I need to watch it again soon, and see if it’s just a strong on a second viewing… I want to recommend it any other film lovers so they can watch it and talk about it. This is beautiful filmmaking. This is cinema where everything matters, where every little detail adds up to create something seriously exhilarating to experience in the theater. It’s also a cathartic experience – following Rona on her journey, understanding how much she struggles, and feeling so deeply moved by Ronan’s portrayal of her, that some will walk out of this and change their own lives. And based on all the great techno she listens to, I’d also like to hear to a DJ session from Rona. If she’s up for it.

Alex’s Sundance 2024 Rating: 9.8 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing