The British dramas The Salt Path, Ammonite and The Outrun all present coastal living as a restorative force in the lives of their characters, a place where they can find community – and themselves. By Barry Levitt
The Salt Path follows Raynor (Gillian Anderson) and her husband Moth (Jason Isaacs), who’ve recently lost their home after some legal issues. Out of desperation, they take themselves – and the little money they have left – to the South West Coast Path, where they embark on a 630-mile walk in hopes of finding a reason to keep living.
While that sounds heartbreaking, The Salt Path, directed by Marianne Elliott and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, is more optimistic than you’d expect. Raynor and Moth’s love for one another buoys them through their darkest days. And while their journey is sometimes perilous, it’s hard not to be swept up by the sumptuous scenery around them, from the trickling waters and rolling hills to the inviting beaches and charming bunting.
Much of that optimism comes from The Salt Path’s setting: various seaside towns in the south-west of England. The inspirational drama belongs to a growing trend of films that present living in British seaside towns as a calm experience, full of joy and self-fulfillment. Particularly in contrast with large cities, the seaside offers awe-inspiring nature; a loving, tight-knit community; opportunity; and hope. As these films suggest, living by the seaside is a more wholesome way of living where you can rediscover yourself, find community and escape stifling city life.
In a key scene in The Salt Path, Moth observes Raynor – who, like him, hasn’t consumed anything substantial in days – staring at a woman eating. He has a plan. Suddenly, in the middle of town, Moth begins telling passersby the story of Beowulf, which he’s seen reading throughout the film. People in major metropolises would likely avoid Moth at all costs, yet in this idyllic seaside locale, he gathers an adoring crowd, who hang on his every word and eagerly give him their money. This seaside community doesn’t hesitate to come together and give back. It’s an impromptu moment of unity that’s all but impossible to imagine in a big city. In this small, tranquil town, however, it’s just another day.
The Salt Path (2025)
In period drama Ammonite (2020), a depressed Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan) relocates from London to the coastal town of Lyme Regis at the behest of her husband (James McArdle), who hopes that she’ll be cured spending time by the sea under the tutelage of renowned fossil collector Mary (Kate Winslet). The seaside becomes not only a place of rehabilitation for Charlotte, but community; in her lover Mary, she finds a like-minded soul. The patient nature of director Francis Lee’s camera, combined with the quiet landscapes of Lyme Regis, provides the ideal atmosphere for Charlotte and Mary’s romance to blossom. The sea is one of the few places where they can truly be themselves, frolicking with joyous abandon like a pair of teenagers, kissing and holding each other in the water, smiles beaming.
Ammonite makes the most of its location – even when Charlotte is inside Mary’s cottage, you can still hear the crashing waves beyond. When the women finally lie in bed together, this sound creates a steadying, peaceful atmosphere. By the sea, Charlotte and Mary have found a world of their own, where they can live as they please, separate from 19th-century norms around sexuality. The waves act almost as a layer of protection, keeping the pair safe from the outside world. As long as they stay near the undulating waters, nothing can harm them.
Ammonite (2020)
Saoirse Ronan also has a restorative experience by the seaside in The Outrun (2024). She plays recovering alcoholic Rona, who returns to her hometown in the Orkney Islands after living in London. Unfolding in a non-linear fashion, the film moves between Rona’s experiences in the capital – including bouts of binge drinking and violent outbursts – and her time in the Islands, where she struggles to make connections and longs to return to the city. In contrast with the bustle of London, the Orkney quiet gives Rona space to interrogate her self-destructive impulses.
It forces her to spend time by herself and with her family – something she initially resists, keen to get back to her old life. She’s employed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to study the very rare Corn Crake, a position that forces Rona to spend plenty of time in the great outdoors. Eventually, she gets a job on the extremely remote island of Papay (with a population of about 90).
The Outrun (2024)
There’s a haunting beauty to the island – even when the skies are heavily overcast. Papay is where Rona begins to heal, finding community with other alcoholics and rekindling her love of nature. With no opportunity to misbehave, and no judgemental eyes watching her, Rona finds inner peace. She still has a long way to go on her journey and, like the film itself, you sense it won’t be a smooth, linear path. But in the calming, meditative landscape of the Orkneys, she’s got a shot at something greater. The ending of the film seems to confirm this, as Rona ‘conducts’ the waves, joyfully waving her hands above the currents, taking in the overwhelming power of the bold, blue waters. Cutting between her past in London and her new life in Papay, Rona finds the same redemptive, euphoric joy in the waves that she once did in reckless partying.
The same is true for Raynor and Moth in The Salt Path. When they’re at their lowest, the seaside communities they walk through are full of optimism. Random townsfolk wish them well on their walk. Waiters and pub staff turn a blind eye when they use their own teabags in hot water. One shop worker notices they’re hungry and goes out of her way to get them a bag full of the day’s pasties. They continue their journey on the path not in spite of these towns, but because of them.
The Salt Path (2025)
All three films refuse blind optimism. Each is aware that the seaside is not a magical cure-all; indeed, struggles with homelessness, forbidden romance and alcoholism still exist there. But The Salt Path, Ammonite and The Outrun posit that the British seaside is a place of redemption, where people can escape the individualism of cities and become one with themselves through community.
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