When Things Fall Into Place
Directed by Nora Fingscheidt
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Stephen Dillane
Released October 4th, 2004
Rated R
In the early days of my sobriety, I found it difficult to listen to certain music because the sounds were so connected to time spent imbibing. I resolved to find music I had discovered before I started drinking, and the result was revelatory. I was able to connect with a side of myself I hadn’t spent time with in years. One of the records that helped me find this serenity was Soul Mining by The The. A cousin of mine had given me that cassette tape back in the late 1980s and listening now to songs like “I’ve Been Waiting for Tomorrow” and “Uncertain Smile” hits differently in middle age, let alone in sobriety.
Earlier this year I read a memoir from 2016 by the Scottish writer Amy Liptrot that detailed her struggles with alcoholism and her path of recovery. What I enjoyed most about the book was how vibrantly Liptrot described the scenery and citizens of the Orkney islands, a windswept place off of the north coast of Scotland in which she spent her childhood. The book deftly mixed beautiful, engaging nature writing with Liptrot’s reminiscences of her time in the big city of London, where addiction overtook her and transformed her life into an assemblage of heartbreak and regret. Liptrot, working with Daisy Lewis and Nora Fingscheidt, adapted her memoir The Outrun into a screenplay, and now we have a feature film version, directed by Fingscheidt and starring Saoirse Ronan as Rona, a fictionalized version of Liptrot.
Rona resolves to leave London after completing a stint in rehab, to spend time with her parents in Orkney. Her parents are separated, so she divides her time between them. Her mother Annie (Saskia Reeves) has become religious, an outlook Rona does not share. This makes things all the rockier between them. Her father Andrew (Stephen Dillane) runs a farm on the island, a farm that used to be their family farm before her parents separated and Rona moved to London. Rona does her best to help her father on the farm, but he struggles with untreated bi-polar disorder, which not only complicates his life, but their relationship. We see flashbacks of how this affected Rona when she was young. We see flashbacks of Rona in London, partying with friends and getting drunk and making a fool of herself and apologizing time and again to her boyfriend Daynin (Paapa Essiedu). She swears she will never drink again. She drinks again. We see Rona in rehab, we see her relapse. We see her going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Orkney. Searching for meaning and a path forward, we see Rona join the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in their hunt on the island for the elusive corn crake. Being back on the island and working with animals brings Rona closer to nature and the elemental forces that shaped her life, pre-alcoholism.
The movie makes it clear that nobody would choose a life of addiction. It’s a horrible way to live. There are plenty of movies about addiction and recovery. Some are better than others. Some romanticize drinking or drug usage; some demonize those who are in the throes of addiction. I appreciate that The Outrun presents Rona’s story in a matter-of-fact fashion. Bad things happened in her life, and through hard work and dedication she was able to make changes for the better, one day at a time. Like the book it’s based on, The Outrun tells this story of recovery and renewal in a non-linear fashion, jutting back and forth between Rona in Orkney and Rona in London. The filmmakers use Rona’s dyed hair as a neat device to let audiences know where they are in the timeline. If it’s full blue, we are in London. If the blue has all but grown out, we are in Orkney. While the film eventually gels in such a way as to become a compelling account of Rona’s journey, some of the jumping around in time can be confusing, and I am happy that I read the book before I saw the movie. I felt like I was able to follow the characters and the situations all the better for it.
The gorgeous cinematography by Yunus Roy Imer captures the Orkney described in the book, a mixture of green trees, white sand, and blue ocean. I would be hard pressed to recall a film score as complimentary to a project as the work done here by John Gürtler and Jan Miserre. It’s truly beautiful music that fits every extreme emotion we see Rona going through. While the supporting cast is excellent, this is really a showcase for the immense talent of Saoirse Ronan. She presents a person who has been stripped of confidence in herself, a vulnerable portrait of someone endeavoring to rediscover simple joys and quiet comfort in life. Speaking about her involvement in the film, Ronan said that although she herself has not struggled with addiction, those close to her have, and she wanted to do the film as a tribute to them. Depending on the life experience you bring with you, watching The Outrun could be quite an emotional experience that may indeed lead you to burst into tears. For my part, I kept it together pretty well until the last moments of the film, when we hear Rona give an excited, joyful laugh before the film cuts to a song over the end credits: “This is the Day” by The The, from the album Soul Mining.