''Somersault'' is a 2004 Australian romantic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Cate Shortland Cate Shortland (born 10 August 1968) is an Australian director and screenwriter. She received international acclaim for her 2004 romantic drama film ''Somersault (film), Somersault'', her 2012 historical drama film ''Lore (film), Lore'', and he ...

in her feature directorial debut. It was released on 16 September 2004 and screened in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

section at the

2004 Cannes Film Festival The 57th Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 2004. American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino served as jury president for the main competition. While American filmmaker Michael Moore won the Palme d'Or for the documentary film '' Fahrenh ...

. It also swept the field at the 2004

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...

, winning every single feature film award (13 in total). Exploring the themes of sexuality, alienation and emotion, ''Somersault'' is about a 16-year-old girl named Heidi (Abbie Cornish) who flees her

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

home to the mountain town of Jindabyne in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. There she meets Joe (Worthington), the son of a local farmer, and gradually forms a relationship with him, despite his difficulty in expressing his feelings. He also seems to be unsure of his

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

, despite having better-than-average luck meeting women. The soundtrack is written and performed by Australian band Decoder Ring. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004 the soundtrack was nominated for Best Original Soundtrack Album.

Plot

Heidi, a pretty teenager living in the

suburbs, tries to seduce her mother Nicole's boyfriend, and flees home when her mother catches her. She takes a bus to a ski resort in the Snowy River National Park where a man lives who once gave her his business card and invited her to contact him if she was ever in town. However, when she phones him, his wife answers the phone and he says that he does not remember her. She tries meeting some boys her age at a club and an older man in a ski shop but nobody wants to help her. In a bar, a young man called Joe who saw her in the club the previous night buys her a drink. Without anywhere to sleep, he takes her to a motel but leaves for work in the morning. She strikes up a friendship with Irene, the woman who runs the motel who gives her breakfast. She asks for a job but, after Heidi says that her mother is dead, Irene allows her to stay in the room and pay the following day. Heidi calls Joe at his parents' farm but he doesn't return her calls. Irene, knowing she doesn't have the money for the room, puts her in her son's flat, though she still wants rent in due course. In order to pay for it, Heidi needs a job, and is hired at a

petrol station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

. Joe sees her by accident and they go for a drink and back to her flat. Her co-worker is Bianca and they become friends later on after Bianca's mother offers her a lift home, where Joe is waiting at her flat. This begins a tentative dating relationship between the two. One night, Joe and Heidi encounter some of his friends, who mock her for working in a petrol station. When Joe and Heidi go to a Chinese restaurant, she asks him if he loves her, and when he refuses to make any commitment or even discuss it, she swallows a bowl of hot chili peppers. He drags her to the bathroom to throw up and takes her back to the motel. He then goes to a party where his friends who mocked Heidi are hanging out. After a fight with one of his friends over Heidi, he then visits his neighbour Richard. Joe gets drunk and tells him how much he is obsessed with Heidi. Joe ends up kissing Richard, who is gay. Richard kisses him back but says he doesn't think Joe knows what he wants. Joe says nothing and disappears presumably into Richard's bedroom. The next morning, Joe drives home and his father is reading the newspaper at the breakfast table. Joe tells his father he's drunk and begins to cry. His father ignores his emotional distress. Meanwhile, Heidi discovers that Bianca's father is the man she propositioned in the ski shop. When Heidi tries to leave, Bianca's father offers her a ride back home and tells her to stay away from his daughter because Heidi is a bad influence. The next day at work Bianca is cold and distant. When Heidi asks why, Bianca confesses her father told her everything. Angry, Heidi quits by storming out of the petrol station. That evening she goes to the night club and gets drunk. Two young men pick her up and go home with her. Although she is barely conscious, they kiss and undress her. One of the men undresses and is about to have sex with her when Joe comes in. Joe punches him in the face and Heidi and Joe leave. After they leave, Joe condemns Heidi's promiscuity and she accuses Joe of not caring for her, which he does not deny and drives off. The next morning, Irene tells Heidi to leave. Heidi forces Irene to admit that her son is in prison for murder and confesses that her mother was not dead after all. Irene asks Heidi to call her mother and make amends. Later the next day, Heidi has packed up her things and is returning from a walk. Joe is waiting for her and is surprised to learn that Heidi is leaving. As they wait for Heidi's mother to come, Joe holds Heidi's hand — something he had difficulty doing previously. The film ends as Heidi's mother arrives. Joe tries to give Heidi a kiss goodbye but Heidi stops him and says she's glad they met. Heidi embraces her mother, and when they drive off Heidi watches the icy scenery go by.

Cast

Abbie Cornish Abigail Cornish (born 7 August 1982) is an Australian actress. In film, Cornish is known for her roles as Heidi in ''Somersault (film), Somersault'' (2004), Fanny Brawne in ''Bright Star (film), Bright Star'' (2009), Sweet Pea in ''Sucker Punch ...

as Heidi * Sam Worthington as Joe * Lynette Curran as Irene * Nathaniel Dean as Stuart *

Erik Thomson Erik Thomson is a Scottish-born New Zealand-Australian actor. He is known for playing Hades in the television series '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', '' Xena Warrior Princess'' and '' Young Hercules'', Dr. Mitch Stevens in '' All Saints' ...

as Richard *

Leah Purcell Leah Maree Purcell (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's ''Somewhere in the Darkness'', which led to rol ...

as Diane * Hollie Andrew as Bianca * Paul Gleeson as Roy * Olivia Pigeot as Nicole * Damian De Montemas as Adam * Anne Louise Lambert as Martha *

Diana Glenn Diana Glenn (born 1974) is an Australian actress with many credits in television, film, and theatre. Early life and education Glenn has an English father, Greek mother and three siblings. She attended Melbourne Girls Grammar School and studi ...

as Sally * Ben Tate as Sean

Reception

''Somersault'' grossed $2,158,574 at the box office in Australia and was well received by critics. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A poignant coming-of-age tale marked by a breakout lead performance from Abbie Cornish and a successful directorial debut from Cate Shortland." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 73, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Margaret Pomeranz Margaret Pomeranz (born Margeret Anne Jones-Owen, 15 July 1944) is an Australian film critic, writer, producer, and television personality. Early life Pomeranz was born Margeret Anne Jones-Owen on 15 July 1944 in Waverley, a suburb of Sydney ...

and

David Stratton David James Stratton (born 1939) is an English-Australian film critic and historian. He has also worked as a journalist, interviewer, educator, television personality, and producer. His career as a film critic, writer, and educator in Austral ...

of '' At the Movies'' both praised the film, giving it 4 stars. In her review, Pomeranz wrote "There's no doubting Cate Shortland's talent. Her vision for this film is delicate and wrenching, tentatively optimistic. I have images from the film that haunt me still, Heidi’s hands – that ultimate connecting point of us all, her vulnerable body wrapped up against the cold in her pale blue parka, the landscape of that world at the bottom of the mountains". She gave additional praise to the performances of the cast. Fenella Kernebone for SBS noted "''Somersault'' is a real labour of love for Cate Shortland and every element in the film is carefully considered." Kernebone awarded the film four stars out of five. ''Somersault'' premiered at the

, where it was screened as part of the

and was the only Australian feature film at the festival that year.

Accolades

In the 2004 AFI Awards held on 29 October at Regent Theatre,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, ''Somersault'' made history by winning in all 13 categories. The film won the following awards: Best Film (awarded to producers

Anthony Anderson Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is known for his leading roles in television shows such as Andre "Dre" Johnson on the comedy series ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022), Marlin Boulet on the ...

and Jan Chapman); Best Direction (Cate Shortland);

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...

(Cate Shortland);

Best Actress in a Leading Role Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

(Abbie Cornish);

Best Actor in a Leading Role The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading ro ...

(Sam Worthington); Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lynette Curran); Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Erik Thomson); Best Editing (Scott Gray); Best Cinematography (Robert Humphreys, A.C.S.); Best Sound (Mark Blackwell, Peter Smith and Sam Petty); Best Original Music Score (Decoder Ring); Best Production Design (Melinda Doring); Best Costume Design (Emily Seresin). ''Somersault'' was also a big winner at the 2004 Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) Annual Awards where it picked up five awards: Best Film; Best Director (Cate Shortland); Best Actress (Abbie Cornish); Best Cinematography (Robert Humphreys); Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lynette Curran). The film also dominated the publicly voted Lexus IF Awards, taking out six of its eight nominations. It won awards in the following categories: Best Director (Cate Shortland), Best Music, Best Cinematography, Best Script, Best Feature Film and Best Actress for Abbie Cornish.

References

External links