As a couple in trouble, Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs find a path
★★★★
M. 115 minutes. In cinemas May 15
I spent much of The Salt Path in a nervous sweat. From the very beginning, it seems like a story that's going to end in a screen awash with tears.
It's about a slow-going marathon – a 1000-kilometre walk along Britain's West Coast undertaken by Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs as a couple who have hit hard times.
They start off from a cliff in Somerset, with Anderson's Ray Winn looking worried as her husband, Moth, struggles up their first hill, dragging his left foot. Yet they press on, sleeping in their small tent, boiling noodles for dinner and weathering the contempt of dog-walkers who don't like campers intruding on their patch.
And while they trudge through the bracken, we take an excursion into their past via a series of flashbacks explaining the reason they have been forced to go on the road. An unwise financial investment has plunged them into a debt so large they have lost their farm and everything else they own. And even more disastrous is the cause of Moth's foot trouble. I'll spare you the medical details but the prognosis leaves little room for hope.
In the face of misfortune on this scale, it's tempting to tune out and leave them to it, but Anderson and Isaacs are both so appealing in the roles that you can't help becoming involved. Now and again they make a move so rash that it has you muttering in frustration, but they also have a taste for gallows humour which bubbles up when the going is particularly tough. I too shared their rising sense of suspense on every visit to an ATM and I admired their resilience when the noodles ran out.
And there are light moments. At one point, a jaunty figure with a Panama hat and an ice-cream (James Lance) invites them to his luxurious house to meet his glamorous wife and her equally glamorous friends, and all is going well until an unexpected revelation kicks in and the lunch offer evaporates.
It's not an entirely wasted experience. Up to this point, Moth has left Ray to handle the guidebook and any money they have left. Hunger, however, proves a great inspiration, and while Ray is gazing soulfully into the window of a fish-and-chip shop, he suddenly leaps up and announces to the passing crowd that he's about to perform. People stop, looking bemused, as he launches into a reading from Beowulf, the book he has been carrying in his rucksack. And such is the energy of his delivery that he's a great success. His hat is passed round and they have money for lunch.
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The cast included Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner and Jan Smithers, alongside Anderson as the sexy and smart Jennifer Marlowe. As the station's receptionist, the blonde and high-heeled Jennifer used her sex appeal to deflect unwanted business calls for her boss, Mr Carlson. Her efficiency often kept the station running in the face of others' incompetence. The role earned her two Emmy Award and three Golden Globe nominations. Anderson starred on the big screen alongside Burt Reynolds in the 1983 comedy Stroker Ace and the two later married and became tabloid fixtures before divorcing in 1994. Their son, Quinton Reynolds, was "the best decision that we ever made in our entire relationship", she said during the unveiling of a bronze bust at Reynolds' Hollywood grave site in 2021. "We were just a spectacle all the time. And it was hard to have a relationship in that atmosphere. And somehow, we did it through many ups and downs." Anderson detailed their tumultuous marriage in the 1995 autobiography, My Life in High Heels, which she said was about "the growth of a woman, a woman who survives". "I think if you're going to write about yourself, you have to do it warts and all," Anderson told the AP while promoting the book. "You may not even tell the nicest things about yourself, because you're telling the truth." She married four times, most recently to Bob Flick in 2008. Anderson was born August 5, 1945, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her father was an environmental chemist and her mother was a model. Her first role as an actress was a small part in the 1966 film Nevada Smith, starring Steve McQueen. Most of her career was spent on the small screen with early guest parts in the 1970s on S.W.A.T. and Police Woman. After WKRP, Anderson starred in the short-lived comedy series Easy Street and appeared in made-for-TV movies including A Letter to Three Wives and White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd. 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"We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother," Anderson's family said in a statement. WKRP in Cincinnati aired from 1978-1982 and was set in a lagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself with rock music. The cast included Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner and Jan Smithers, alongside Anderson as the sexy and smart Jennifer Marlowe. As the station's receptionist, the blonde and high-heeled Jennifer used her sex appeal to deflect unwanted business calls for her boss, Mr Carlson. Her efficiency often kept the station running in the face of others' incompetence. The role earned her two Emmy Award and three Golden Globe nominations. Anderson starred on the big screen alongside Burt Reynolds in the 1983 comedy Stroker Ace and the two later married and became tabloid fixtures before divorcing in 1994. Their son, Quinton Reynolds, was "the best decision that we ever made in our entire relationship", she said during the unveiling of a bronze bust at Reynolds' Hollywood grave site in 2021. "We were just a spectacle all the time. And it was hard to have a relationship in that atmosphere. And somehow, we did it through many ups and downs." Anderson detailed their tumultuous marriage in the 1995 autobiography, My Life in High Heels, which she said was about "the growth of a woman, a woman who survives". "I think if you're going to write about yourself, you have to do it warts and all," Anderson told the AP while promoting the book. "You may not even tell the nicest things about yourself, because you're telling the truth." She married four times, most recently to Bob Flick in 2008. Anderson was born August 5, 1945, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her father was an environmental chemist and her mother was a model. Her first role as an actress was a small part in the 1966 film Nevada Smith, starring Steve McQueen. Most of her career was spent on the small screen with early guest parts in the 1970s on S.W.A.T. and Police Woman. After WKRP, Anderson starred in the short-lived comedy series Easy Street and appeared in made-for-TV movies including A Letter to Three Wives and White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd. In 2023 she co-starred in Lifetime's Ladies Of The 80s: A Divas Christmas, with Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicollette Sheridan. "I am heartbroken to hear of the passing of the wonderful Loni Anderson!" Fairchild wrote on X. "The sweetest, most gracious lady! I'm just devastated to hear this." Anderson is survived by Flick, her daughter Deidra and son-in law Charlie Hoffman, son Quinton Anderson Reynolds, grandchildren McKenzie and Megan Hoffman, stepson Adam Flick and wife Helene, and step-grandchildren Felix and Maximilian. A private family service is planned at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Kagan said. Loni Anderson, who played a struggling radio station's empowered receptionist on the hit TV comedy WKRP in Cincinnati has died, just days before her 80th birthday. Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a "prolonged" illness, her longtime publicist, Cheryl J Kagan said on Sunday. "We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother," Anderson's family said in a statement. WKRP in Cincinnati aired from 1978-1982 and was set in a lagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself with rock music. The cast included Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner and Jan Smithers, alongside Anderson as the sexy and smart Jennifer Marlowe. As the station's receptionist, the blonde and high-heeled Jennifer used her sex appeal to deflect unwanted business calls for her boss, Mr Carlson. Her efficiency often kept the station running in the face of others' incompetence. The role earned her two Emmy Award and three Golden Globe nominations. Anderson starred on the big screen alongside Burt Reynolds in the 1983 comedy Stroker Ace and the two later married and became tabloid fixtures before divorcing in 1994. Their son, Quinton Reynolds, was "the best decision that we ever made in our entire relationship", she said during the unveiling of a bronze bust at Reynolds' Hollywood grave site in 2021. "We were just a spectacle all the time. And it was hard to have a relationship in that atmosphere. And somehow, we did it through many ups and downs." Anderson detailed their tumultuous marriage in the 1995 autobiography, My Life in High Heels, which she said was about "the growth of a woman, a woman who survives". "I think if you're going to write about yourself, you have to do it warts and all," Anderson told the AP while promoting the book. "You may not even tell the nicest things about yourself, because you're telling the truth." She married four times, most recently to Bob Flick in 2008. Anderson was born August 5, 1945, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her father was an environmental chemist and her mother was a model. Her first role as an actress was a small part in the 1966 film Nevada Smith, starring Steve McQueen. Most of her career was spent on the small screen with early guest parts in the 1970s on S.W.A.T. and Police Woman. After WKRP, Anderson starred in the short-lived comedy series Easy Street and appeared in made-for-TV movies including A Letter to Three Wives and White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd. In 2023 she co-starred in Lifetime's Ladies Of The 80s: A Divas Christmas, with Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicollette Sheridan. "I am heartbroken to hear of the passing of the wonderful Loni Anderson!" Fairchild wrote on X. "The sweetest, most gracious lady! I'm just devastated to hear this." Anderson is survived by Flick, her daughter Deidra and son-in law Charlie Hoffman, son Quinton Anderson Reynolds, grandchildren McKenzie and Megan Hoffman, stepson Adam Flick and wife Helene, and step-grandchildren Felix and Maximilian. A private family service is planned at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Kagan said.
