Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend; Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in The Days of Wine and Roses; Natja Brunckhorst in Christiane F; and Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, and Jared Leto in Requiem for a Dream are just some of the many actors who brilliantly portrayed the terrifying truth that addiction is a full-time job.
The latest is Saoirse Ronan - but don't let The Outrun's starting point of rock bottom put you off, because, ultimately, this is a story about recovery more than it is about the horrors that precede it.
Based on Amy Liptrot's best-selling memoir, The Outrun sees Ronan playing Rona, an Orkney Islands native who returns home after recently getting sober. Her life in London is gone, but Rona keeps telling others that she'll be heading back "soon" and "next week".
It never happens; something better does.
As the weeks pass, the claustrophobia Rona feels about island life subsides. She reconnects with the outdoors, realising her own power in the process.
In her first film as a producer, Ronan finds the best of collaborators in author Liptrot, writer-director Nora Fingscheidt, and screenwriter Daisy Lewis. Covering familiar territory albeit in a stunning location, The Outrun puts many dramas where a lot more happens to shame. It's never less than engaging as the islanders act alongside screen-veteran Ronan; uses animation and facts about nature as her character Rona tries to keep moving towards the light; and reminds us to appreciate the positives of the world around us, no matter how small or fleeting. In the best way, the last place you'll want to be after watching is a cinema.
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Many will say that this is the performance of Ronan's career to date. Another Oscar nomination - her fifth - is in the offing for The Outrun - and she's also tipped to be in the Supporting Actress category for Blitz. It's a hectic year in the Lead Actress category, so who knows what will happen with the nominations in January.
In the here and now, however, The Outrun has already secured the biggest win of the lot: it will inspire someone to change their life.
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