This film gives cinema one of the most nail-biting scenes of the year so far: an edge-of-the-seat moment as Gillian Anderson puts her bank card into a cash machine. Is there enough money in the account? Everything is at stake. This impressive, intelligent drama is an adaptation of Raynor Winn’s memoir about walking the South West Coast Path from Somerset to Dorset, with her husband, Moth. Unlike other hikers, the couple were not walking for pleasure – at least not to begin with. They had nowhere else to go after losing their farm. From theatre director Marianne Elliott, it stars two fancy actors – Anderson and Jason Isaacs – both giving lovely, emotional, low-key performances.
In flashback we see the bailiffs banging at the door, evicting the couple, who are in their 50s, from the home in which they raised their kids, now flown the nest to university. Moth has recently been diagnosed with a rare, life-limiting degenerative brain disease; nevertheless, off they set carrying their heavy rucksacks, sleeping in a tent, living off £40 a week, sharing teabags, eating in soup kitchens. The landscape is gorgeous and there are lovely moments of kindness, like the barman in a pub who brings them a teapot of hot water to make a brew, tactfully acknowledging they can’t pay for drinks.
Making her feature-film debut, Elliott handles their story gently, with patience – though it might feel a bit slow for some. Somehow, they all bring a real sense of meaning and truth to cheap-sounding messages about living in the moment, and the possibility of long-term relationships deepening and growing in ways impossible to predict. And the best thing about watching the couple’s hardship is knowing there is a happy end coming – with the publication of Winn’s bestselling memoir.
The Salt Path is in UK, Irish and Australian cinemas from 30 May.
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (Penguin Books Ltd, £10.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
