- Director: Marianne Elliott
- Screenplay: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
- Cast: Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs
- Cinematography: Helene Louvart
- Score: Chris Roe
- Genre: Biographical drama
- Runtime: 115 minutes
Husband and wife Moth and Raynor Winn lose their home, their worldly possessions and most of their money after a business deal backfires. To make a bad situation worse, Moth (Jason Isaacs) has been diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, a neurological disease that affects his physical state, with a life expectancy of around 6 years.
Their house repossessed, the couple set off on a hike along the South West Coast Path on the perimeter of the English coast. They’ve got nowhere better to go, nothing else to do. It’s 600 miles long so they’ve got plenty of time to figure out what on earth they do next. It seems cruel to let Moth trudge up hills after we see him lolloping down a hospital corridor in a flashback.
These flashbacks pepper the first 50 or so miles, filling in the puzzle pieces as to how the pair have ended up homeless. It’s all a true story, based on a memoir of the same name Raynor (played here by Gillian Anderson) wrote.
What a beautiful part of the world. I’d love to experience it for myself but I’m too lazy to put the steps in. But there’s no reward without pain as the Winns find out. There’s an unglamorous sort of beauty to their struggle. Absolutely no dignity (especially when Raynor tries to withdraw the remaining £1.38 from their bank account) but inspirational through and through.
The film reminded me of the quote from science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin: “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”. And what a journey it is.
My rating: 8 / 10
SilverScreen 