re:mote voices

Title: Somersault
Cast: Abbie Cornish, Sam Worthington
Director: Cate Shortland

Heidi is a flirtatious 16-year-old, who runs away from home after she is caught kissing her mother’s boyfriend. Her mother is appalled and betrayed by Heidi’s actions, and the immediate tension makes Heidi feel like she had better get out of there. So Heidi heads off to a ski resort, where she believes a man she met once will help her out. Instead she finds herself with no friends and little money, driving her into a series of random sexual encounters. Which she manages to naively make the most of, finding herself with somewhere to stay, with a job, and perhaps a boyfriend. But of course the world isn’t as shiny and bright as Heidi would like to think and it isn’t long before this is made clear to her.

Somersault is the debut feature by Australian writer/director Cate Shortland. Like Tony McNamara, who directed the forthcoming Rage In Placid Lake, Shortland started her career working on the TV drama The Secret Life Of Us, which has exported from Australia to the UK. She graduated from the Aurora Programme, a series or workshops where experienced directors help out new directors. In this programme she was mentored by director Rob Festinger (In The Bedroom), though there is an irony to that given that Shortland’s work has more in common with one of the other experienced directors involved in the Aurora Programme. In terms of look and feel Somersault recalls Scottish director Lynne Ramsey’s adaptation of Alan Warner’s novel Morvern Callar. Both feature female leads who have a curious view of the world and end up in awkward situations. Both feature a soundtrack which is particularly effective, mixing retro with contemporary – the new music in Somersault being provided by a band called Decoder Ring, and recalling the kind of electronic melodies that the Warp bands provided for Morvern Callar.

Somersault is essentially a coming of age film and so much of the success of Shortland’s film comes from the casting of Abbie Cornish as Heidi. Cornish manage to capture the contradictions and uncertainties of the role. Cornish bringing the film to life as much as Shortland’s writing and direction.