The Salt Path (film)

The Salt Path is a 2024 British biographical drama film directed by Marianne Elliott and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the 2018 memoir by Raynor Winn. The film stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

The film premiered in the Special Presentations section at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2024, and was released in the United Kingdom by Black Bear UK on 30 May 2025.

The Salt Path received mixed reviews from critics, who admired the cinematography and the performances by the leading actors, but thought that it was let down by the script.

Some background events central to the premise of the book were disputed following an investigative piece in July 2025 by The Observer, which stated that Winn lost her home after stealing £64,000 from her employer, and cast doubt on her husband's diagnosis of CBD.^[4] Raynor has since denied these claims and said she was taking legal advice.^[5][6]

A married couple, Raynor (wife) and Moth (husband) Winn, set out to walk the South West Coast Path starting in Minehead. There are several flashbacks that culminate with them being evicted from their farm and home, and Moth being diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration (CBD), a rare, degenerative and terminal disease, as well as flashforwards to some of the challenges ahead of them. A letter which could have prevented the eviction is mentioned repeatedly, but the judge refused to accept it as evidence. Ultimately they set out to walk the trail as detailed by Paddy Dillon in his guidebook "The South West Coast Path", as it seems to be their only option to survive on their only source of income, £40 weekly from Working Tax Credit, a form of state benefit.

So they set out on the 630-mile (1,010 km) South West Coast Path, from Minehead to Poole around the coasts of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset. On the walk, they come to terms with the shame associated with homelessness and the scorn of some people they meet; others offer sympathy and assistance. As they walk, Moth slowly grows in strength.

As winter draws in, a friend, Polly, offers them the opportunity to stay in her shed if they will renovate it for her. They spend the winter there; Polly also hooks Raynor up with a job helping with sheep shearing which brings in £1500. At the end of their stay, Moth forms a plan to study sustainable farming at Plymouth University, hoping that he'll secure a student loan which the couple could live on. In the spring, they resume the Coast Path.

Title cards at the end state that they completed the walk and were offered temporary accommodation by a stranger; Moth completed his studies and both worked in agriculture; meanwhile, Ray wrote up her travel notes and published her book The Salt Path, which became a bestseller.

• Gillian Anderson as Raynor Winn
• Jason Isaacs as Moth Winn
• James Lance as Grant
• Hermione Norris as Polly

In 2023, Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs were cast in an adaptation of the 2018 book The Salt Path. The film was directed by Marianne Elliott in her feature directorial debut, and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. The producers were Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley, Lloyd Levin, and Beatriz Levin. The production company was Number 9 Films, with BBC Film and LipSync financing and Black Bear Pictures acquiring UK distribution rights.^[7][8] In July 2023, James Lance and Hermione Norris joined the cast.^[9]

Filming took place in Chepstow in Monmouthshire, and in Aust, Gloucestershire, in June 2023,^[10] and on East Head at West Wittering, West Sussex.

Principal photography started in Somerset in July 2023; filming locations included Minehead and Porlock Weir in Somerset, Lynton to Heddon's Mouth, as well as Ilfracombe, Clovelly and Hartland Quay in Devon. Filming locations in Cornwall included Padstow, Fistral Beach, Port Quin, Holywell Bay, and Rame Head.^[11][12][13]

Raynor Winn said of the film that it had brought her "straight back" to the difficult emotions she had felt when evicted and her husband Moth had had his terminal diagnosis. She recalled the day that Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs had come to the door of her house, feeling "That's not what is supposed to happen to [an ordinary] girl from Melton Mowbray".^[14]

Anderson said she was surprised how defensive Raynor was, noting also the author's "steeliness".^[15] Anderson agreed that it must have been an experience to have famous actors arrive to play you. Conversely, Raynor commented that she had wondered how an actor as "perfect and glamorous" as Anderson could portray her in the rawness of her state on the walk.^[15]

The Salt Path had its world premiere as part of the Special Presentations lineup at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on 5 September 2024.^[16][17] The film had preview screenings in Australia from 4 May 2025, with its official release on 15 May.^[18][19] The UK release date was 30 May 2025.^[20]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film had a rating of 84% based on reviews from 32 critics.^[21] On Metacritic the film had a weighted average score of 49 based on reviews from four critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[22]

Clarisse Loughrey, in The Independent, writes that The Salt Path offers an "emotionally tidy" presentation of the chaos that major life shocks can bring. In her view, the "shame and exhaustion" of Ray, a woman whose lifelong security has been torn from her, is "etched on Anderson's face", and Anderson "studiously presents those emotions".^[23] Isaacs, too, she writes, takes great care to show Moth's feelings, alongside the shaking hands and stiffness of a man suffering from CBD.^[23] But that said, in Loughrey's view, the film fails to present the humanity of the couple, aside from their burdens. Nor does it show any of the deeper issues, like the "failed systems" (of law, of social security) that put them in this crisis. The result is "yet another pat story about how reconnecting with nature is good for the soul", cue Anderson listening to birdsong.^[23]

Tim Robey, writing in The Daily Telegraph, says that the film, Elliott's first after successful theatre productions like War Horse in London's West End, tackles "important points about homelessness" but that it is let down by the script.^[24] He calls the drama "modestly scaled", with a "genuinely funny" incident when people mistake Moth for the wandering poet laureate Simon Armitage, and invite him and Ray to their home, only to be horrified in a "pin-drop silence" when Ray tells them Moth isn't the poet.^[24] Robey finds Isaacs' performance "grittily believable" throughout, while Anderson shines as if "gazing out at her own ruin" in a play by Samuel Beckett.^[24] He admires the experienced Hélène Louvart's cinematography, but writes that however craggy the coastal rocks, Anderson's face reflects the warmth of the sun whenever it comes out.^[24]

Cath Clarke of The Guardian writes that "Elliott handles their story gently, with patience – though it might feel a bit slow for some."^[25] She finds the scene where Ray goes to a cash machine, not knowing if there will be enough money to live on for the week, an "edge-of-the-seat moment".^[25] She describes the film as intelligent and impressive, and the SouthWest Coast landscape "gorgeous". In her view, the film manages to give sincerity to familiar messages like living in each moment and having even a long-standing relationship grow unexpectedly.^[25]

Chloe Hadjimatheou, writing in The Observer in July 2025, wrote that some of the events in The Salt Path were not factually accurate. Ros Hemmings, the wife of Raynor Winn's former employer, stated that Winn, whose name at that time was Sally Walker, had embezzled money from the Hemmings family company run by her husband. Winn borrowed money from a distant relative, partly to repay the Hemmings' company. The loan was secured against her house. The loan was later transferred by the relative to a third party and she was sued for repayment. In addition, she had a mortgage against the house; the loan and the mortgage together were worth more than the house, and it was repossessed.^[4] Hadjimatheou reported that the new owner of the Winns' house had received debt collection letters and bills "addressed to Sally and Tim Walker".^[4] She reported that the "nine neurologists and researchers specialising in CBD" she spoke to "were sceptical about the length of time he has had it, his lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them".^[4]

In response to the Observer article, Winn stated that the report was "highly misleading", and said she was taking legal advice.^[26][27] Penguin Books stated that it had done "all the necessary due diligence" before publishing the book.^[28] On 9 July 2025, she issued a statement online in which she contested The Observer's claims; she included copies of letters from Moth's doctors.^[6] Further articles in the Observer alleged that parts of the book misrepresented some of the people whom Winn met and wrote about in the book, and cast doubt on the veracity of her account. Via her lawyers, Winn responded by stating that she stood by her "honest account".^[29]

After the Observer piece, other newspapers and journals discussed the book, and the wider question of truth in memoirs.^{[30][31][32][33]} BBC News corroborated much of the detail in the Observer article.^[34] Amelia Fairney, a former communications director at Penguin Books, argued in The Observer that publishing often favours profit over truth, and compared Winn to American author James Frey, whose 2003 addiction memoir A Million Little Pieces was extensively fabricated.^[35]

A documentary film, The Salt Path Scandal, hosted by Chloe Hadjimatheou and based on her Observer investigation, was broadcast on 15 December 2025, on Sky Documentaries.^[36]

• The Salt Path at IMDb