THE SALT PATH

THREE STARS A UK couple are made homeless and decide to walk the Cornish coast to clear their heads.

DRAMA UK English #THESALTPATH Starring Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaccs

Director Marianne Elliott, best known for her theatre work, makes her feature debut with THE SALT PATH, an adaptation of Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir. It’s a handsome, if uneven, drama that has a crack at balancing hardship, resilience and nature’s healing power. The results are mixed.

“Walking gives us time to think.” Raynor (Gillian Anderson) and her husband Moth (Jason Isaacs) are a couple in their fifties who lose their Somerset home after a failed investment. With bailiffs at the door and little money to their name, they decide to clear their heads by walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path with little more than a second-hand tent and £40 a week to live on. Well, you would. To compound matters, Moth has recently been diagnosed with a rare degenerative disorder, making the journey all the more daunting.

The premise is as extraordinary as it is ordinary; a middle-aged couple suddenly homeless, pushed to the edge of survival. Along the way they encounter moments of kindness and cruelty, from the generosity of strangers to the stigma of being unhoused. There are flashes of humour and tenderness, too, as the pair cling to each other in the face of fear and fatigue.

Anderson delivers a signature performance of raw and brittle emotion while Isaacs finds unexpected fragility in a role far from his usual domain. While they haven’t got a lot to work with, their chemistry is warm and credible as they realise their ragged and destitute characters. Much of the film’s heavy lifting is over to Hélène Louvart’s cinematography as she turns Cornwall’s rugged coastline into a forthright character of its own.  

Pacing is a recurring issue, baggy in places, repetitive in others, Elliott’s vision has a certain lack of immediacy. While some of the memoir’s urgency is lost, there are affecting moments: a stolen scone clutched like treasure, or a roadside recital of Beowulf that briefly lifts despair.

In the end, THE SALT PATH is neither an epic journey nor a cinematic cul-de-sac. It’s thoughtful, well-acted and occasionally moving, though too restrained to generate an emotional payoff. Viewers patient with its slow tempo may find rewards in its gentle critique of class, its celebration of endurance, and its reminder that home is sometimes less a place than a person.

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