Starring: Abbie Cornish, Sam Worthington and Lynette Curran
Director: Cate Shortland
Rated: MA15+
YOU go up in the air in a somersault. You go to a new place, so to speak.
And, if you keep your eyes open, you will see everything from a different angle – the world is upside down. You then land confidently on your feet.
Australian Cate Shortland’s debut film, Somersault, is about a 16 year-old Canberra girl who feels she has to leave home, especially after her mother caught her kissing her mother’s boyfriend. Her journey is an emotional and maturing somersault.
While this is not new material, it is well treated, especially in the performance of Abbie Cornish as Heidi.
When she arrives in Jindabyne, expecting to get a job, she doesn’t. Nor does she always manage well, especially in the sex department.
There is some hope in a liaison (she sees it as love; it never occurs to him to look at it that way) with a rich young farmer (Sam Worthington).
She is befriended by a motel owner (Lynette Curran in an earth-mother role) and finds that a family begin to show an interest in her.
But, with her inexperience and the emotional baggage she is carrying, she ruins most things. Instead of a somersault, she could land flat on her face.
It is the kindness of others that saves her and a realisation that forgiveness is needed – from oneself as well as others.
