The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan's finest performance?
Irish actor tipped to finally take home an Oscar for her powerful portrayal

Addiction can feel "tired" on screen, said Francesca Steele on the i news site. But "The Outrun", based on Amy Liptrot's bestselling memoir about her alcoholism and recovery in the Orkney islands, is a "vivid, pulsating film". Director Nora Fingscheidt "favours texture and olfactory experimentation over plot" to give viewers a sense of what addiction really feels like.
The addict is Rona (Saoirse Ronan), whose life in London as a microbiologist and relationship with a kind boyfriend (Paapa Essiedu) is destroyed through the lens of alcohol. We are shown bar fights and their resulting wounds as well as "near sexual assault" as her grip on reality is slowly washed down the drain.
She returns to the island where she grew up to "seek solace in the freezing cold water, the birdsong, the unexpected mysteries of seaweed and Orkney mythology". The story is told in "non-linear fragments and voiceover" as we learn about the possible roots of Rona's malaise: her mother is an Evangelical Christian and her father has bipolar disorder.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The clichés often associated with films about addiction are handled with "magnificent detail", said Katherine McLaughlin in Little White Lies. The "intimacy and vulnerability" of the contrast between the Orkney AA community, "all older men sporting chunky knits" alongside a "tiny young woman", stands out.
At nearly two hours long, it is "sometimes baggy and uncontrolled", said Laura Venning in Empire. It begins to feel repetitive in the second half with yet another scene of Ronan gazing out over a crashing sea. But her performance is so "compelling" and "typically transcendent" that it's "easy to forgive the sequences that should have hit the cutting-room floor". It is a "sensitive, non-judgemental" study of the havoc that mental illness and addiction can wreak on individuals and their families.
The film has a "wonderful cast", said Helen Hawkins in The Arts Desk. Rona's dad (Stephen Dillane) switches from "smiling and paternal" to "dangerous and mercurial" in a heartbeat, inferring yet again the shaky base from which Rona has had to find her feet.
Essiedu is "as moving as Ronan", despite a much smaller role. The horrified look he gives Rona when he picks her up from a police station and she suggests they go to the pub is an "extraordinary blend of infinite sadness and a deep-seated disgust".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
This is Ronan's film alright; she has found "the best role to date to match her astonishing skills". Plus, it marks her producing debut alongside her husband, actor, Jack Lowden.
But after four nominations, could this finally win her an Oscar? She would "certainly be a worthy winner", said Steele on the i news site, with her "full-body performance".
Yes, said Hawkins in The Art Desk, Ronan is astounding throughout, almost "literally throwing herself into the role" as she "plunges off tables and lurches down dark streets, cursing all who stand in her way".
-
Western Alaska reels as storm aftermath prompts mass evacuations
UNDER THE RADAR Alaskan lawmakers point to climate change as airlifts relocate hundreds from coastal communities devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong
-
Sudoku medium: October 17, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Sudoku hard: October 17, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
9 inviting bookstores ready for you to attack their shelves
The Week Recommends Your new favorite book awaits
-
Tim Robinson falls out of a chair, chefs compete for Michelin stars and Martin Scorsese gets the documentary treatment in October TV
the week recommends This month's new television releases include ‘The Chair Company,’ ‘Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars’ and ‘Mr. Scorsese’
-
Frankenstein comes to life, the Alabama prison system is exposed and Rose Byrne goes full Crazy Mom in October movies
the week recommends This month’s new releases include ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘The Alabama Solution’ and ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’
-
Choose your own wellness adventure in Greater Palm Springs
The Week Recommends Hit the spa, try a sound bath or take a hike
-
A Taylor Swift analysis, the digital-addiction solution plus what it means to be a gay Black artist — all in October books
The Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘Taylor’s Version’ by Stephanie Burt, ‘Enshittification’ by Cory Doctorow and ‘Minor Black Figures’ by Brandon Taylor
-
8 of the best ‘cozy crime’ series of all time
The Week Recommends Murder mysteries don’t necessarily have to make us miserable, and these shows have perfected a feel-good crime formula
-
One great cookbook: ‘The Woks of Life’
The Week Recommends A family’s opinionated, reliable take on all kinds of Chinese cooking
-
The 5 best mob movies of all time
The Week Recommends If you don’t like a good gangster flick, just fuhgeddaboudit