The most exciting aspect of Cate Shortland’s stunning drama is silence. Long tracts of ambient nothingness; wide, peaceful spaces in which her characters communicate at an instinctive level. A tremendous visual artist, Shortland eschews the contemporary idiom of chatter-as-consequence to paint a rare portrait of Australian life. Not that the story is particularly unusual: a young woman (Abbie Cornish) runs away from home to work in Jindabyne in the care of a motelier (Lynette Curran). Confused and desperate for affection, she is sensitively caught in limbo between girlhood and womanhood, manipulative with her sexuality yet unaware of its full impact. She meets a troubled farm worker (Sam Worthington) who offers friendship, then a kind of love. Exploration as growth is given resonance as each search for themselves in the other’s comfort and anger. It’s a painful transition, fleetingly but beautifully realised when a drunk Worthington hits on a (male) acquaintance.

Jan Chapman has produced some of this country’s best movies - Love Serenade, The Piano – and knows a good film when she reads it. Her experience has given Shortland a broad canvas on which to reveal her talent and she has not disappointed. A dynamic, haunting colour palette is matched by Decoder’s poignant soundtrack to create a world of emotional surges, superbly caught by cinematographer Robert Humphreys. With the enigmatic sensuality of Cornish and rugged blokeyness of Worthing at its core, Somersault is an exceptional film of rare quality that speaks from the Australian heartland. File next to Shine and Lantana.

// COLIN FRASER