Every so often, someone will ask me who my favourite ever actor is. After deliberating, I have landed on the answer of Jack Lemmon. He had great range and only ever gave one poor performance, in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. If I have to choose a living performer, then I think it has to be Saoirse Ronan, who I am beginning to think can take on just about any part. It is extraordinary to think that, despite being nominated four times, she has yet to pick up an Oscar.
In Nora Fingscheidt’s drama she stars as Rona, a young woman recently out of rehab for alcoholism, who returns home to the Orkney Islands.
For a film that is very easy to precis, this is a layered, richly textured drama. The use of multiple timelines showing how Rona descended into addiction, her childhood and her tentative recovery really work. We gradually see how her need to be loved and her keen but restless intelligence feed into her issues, and also how her Dad’s own mental instabilities probably had an effect on her.
Fingscheidt’s direction, Yunus Roy Imer’s cinematography and the score provided by John Gurtler and Jan Miserre all add to the film’s power. Supporting performances by Saskia Reeves as Rona’s mother, Paapa Essiedu as her long suffering boyfriend and Nabil Elouahabi as a fellow AA member are all really well judged.
However, it is Ronan’s movie. She is in nearly every scene and flawlessly captures every aspect of Rona’s character. She is one of the most convincing drunks I have ever seen on screen, and I really felt she was really battling with her demons thereafter. With this and Steve McQueen’s Blitz, where she will be considered for a supporting performance, Ronan is making a double pronged awards season attack. Surely this must be her year.
Rating: 9 out of 10