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Critics Consensus: A poignant coming-of-age tale marked by a breakout lead performance from Abbie Cornish and a successful directorial debut from Cate Shortland.
Critic Consensus: A poignant coming-of-age tale marked by a breakout lead performance from Abbie Cornish and a successful directorial debut from Cate Shortland.
All Critics (65) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (54) | Rotten (11) | DVD (5)
Generous and authentic.
[Cornish] creates a character who pulls us in and makes us recoil all at once.
Heartfelt, painful, exhilarating and, above all, truthful.
My impression remained this time around of an unfinished screenplay in which too many intervals of small talk masqueraded as the forerunners of emotional events that never materialized.
Heavy on atmosphere but very light on plot.
Shortland's payoff is good and redolent of wisdom. But getting there is like sitting in a waiting room with stale magazines.
Somersault isn't simply sensitive to the mindset of its protagonist, but rather adopts the character's yearning, searching, testing and experimenting mood as its own.
Newcomer Abbie Cornish is a revelation of empathy and dramatic transparency in a role riddled with moral landmines.
A psychological drama that registered with audiences and critics alike because of its heartfelt painful story.
A well-wrought if modest movie that lingers with you longer than many more ambitious pictures.
Pretty slow and predictable, and filled with soap opera-like plot contrivances.
Moves with all of the sluggish energy of stop-and-go traffic during rush hour. It just keeps marking time until Heidi has another brief sexual encounter with some new guy.
"Somersault" is a vivid, interesting coming-of-age tale about a young girl who runs away from home, and quickly has encounters and experiences that force her to grow up fast. Heidi (Abbie Cornish) is a lively teenage girl living at home with her single mother (Olivia Pigeot). When she's caught kissing her mum's creepy tattooed boyfriend, she does a runner, ending up in a lowly ski resort. She charms her way into a job and a place to stay, but soon her abundant sexuality and immaturity mean she eventually becomes unstuck... This is a bleaker depiction of Australia than is seen in most popular soap operas. Shot in shades of grey and blue, it is shown to be a cold, barren wasteland inhabited by disconnected, lonely human beings. Director Cate Shortland shows this off to good effect, but could have done without the arty shots of falling leaves, and slow-motion captures of passing countryside and kept the story told in a more straightforward way. The coming-of-age plot is a standard hook, naive teenage girl uses newfound sexuality to achieve intimacy, people exploit her, she defeats this and becomes hardened and wiser as a result. "Somersault" does not quite follow this path, and while there is a suggestion that Heidi has become wiser by the end, it is clear she still has a lot of growing up to do. Throughout, the girl seems dazed and disconnected by the real world around her, and in this the parallel between her and an autistic boy she encounters is not exploited nearly enough. As Heidi, Abbie Cornish gives a performance that is at once sultry and naive. With blonde hair, fresh face and husky voice, Abbie captures the girl's sensuality and insecurity very well. The only flaw is the primordial scream she lets out on losing her job at a serving station. That is the only false note in her entire performance. Sam Worthington plays Joe, the only character in the film who truly understands her, while dealing with demons and anxieties all his own. Sam delivers a subtle, noteworthy performance. Not perfect and a tad too arty in places, "Somersault" should nevertheless be the basis for more Australian pictures.
Super Reviewer
Wow, rly flix? That it? And here I am...obviously alone in thinking this was just bloody brilliant. JBit, thanks again...Australian film gets another thumbs up yet again. Although the last one I watched could have been better. This is rather an intriguing story of a girl that is pretty much trying to find a place to belong...and who steps in the wrong path to find what it is she is looking for. Heidi is a young girl who lives with her mom and her mom's boyfriend who doesn't seem to do much else then hang around the house all day and drink his face off. One day, her mother leaves for work suggesting for her daughter to take the bus. This leads to an intimate moment with her mother's boyfriend, lots of yelling and then leads to Heidi's running away to a little ski town. She leaves to this sleepy little town in hopes of getting a job from a vague offer that doesn't really seem to work out. Lost, confused, with no place to stay Heidi finds the first person who could take her home per se. Him and his friends have to take off the next morning and when she asks if she could come with them, she learns that already has a girlfriend at home waiting for him. Heidi leaves, disappointed and depressed with only a few of her personal possessions for company. There, she meets Joe who seems nice enough and after being persistant enough he brings her to a motel and then leaves her in the morning. Time goes on and he doesn't call her, or come by. She works out a deal with the motel's owner and is allowed to stay one night and pay rent the next day. She goes out to look for a job and almost comes up empty, until she finds a spot at the gas station. One day, Joe comes in and leaves promptly...but after finishing work he meets her finally. Heidi works, she becomes friends with Bianca (the other girl at the register) and sees Joe occasionally. She seems to wear his heart on her sleeve and he seems extremely distant not sharing anything about himself. They each try to deal with their problems, both completely dysfunctional individuals. Apart, of course. One who wants to be with the other and doesn't know how to be alone...and the other who doesn't want to get to close, afraid to. Although he'll never admit it. Things occur, to both of them. Mistakes are made, and they spiral outwards and then back together again. In a way that both learn from their mistakes in a way enough for them both to move on. Guess it's not for everyone, but I really enjoyed this movie. Especially the cinematography. Heidi seems to find the beauty in small things; a pair of red gloves, glitter on a birthday card, looking through purple goggle lenses, dead leaves swishing about from the steps. And, Joe looking through the window through the glass of a red goblet. They both seem so similar, yet are afraid to admit it. And are so fragile as they literally go through the process what is called 'growing up'. Be it metaphorical or not. Just a lovely film, altogether. :]
This is the story of a young girl who escapes home after her mum caught her making out with her (mum's) boyfriend and her struggle to build her own life in a new town, finding a job, a boyfriend, etc. This Australian film differs from others with similar topics by never taking the drama too far. While there are several moments in which things could have gone horribly wrong for Heidi, and we get a glimpse at how vulnerable and insecure she is, not everything's lost for her yet. It's Abbie Cornish's great acting that makes her character believable even throughout her very questionable decisions, while she is confusing sex with love. There are quite a few really charming scenes, in which the nice soundtrack and the images of her wandering around looking at things create very intimate and unique moments, but one would have hoped for more of those. Additionally, a few scenes, like the meetings between her love interest and his gay neighbor feel kinda pointless. Still, the atmosphere and the acting keep the film interesting and the ending is actually kinda sweet. Not bad.
Have you ever had seen a film that was a critical darling, watch it for yourself and find you wondering what they saw in the film that you appear to be missing? That's the experience I had while watching this one long awkward moment of a film. My biggest problem with the film was the lack of empathy I had for the characters. Especially the character played by Abbie Cornish. Does this girl know how to live around people or was she raised by wolves? Does she have any sense of restraint or an understanding of the concept of consequences? If the film's best defense is that it's showing what the average teen goes through, the making of mistakes and all, I'm glad I wasn't an average teen because some of her actions border on downright stupid. And was it really necessary to have the leading male swear so nonchalantly? I'm not a prude and I've seen Tarantino films so I'm used to frequent cursing but it doesn't work when you just use it in a normal tone. Without a hint of anger or fear or any other real emotion, it comes across as forced. This movie just angered me in so many ways, I honestly don't see how people could be like that in real life. Yes, they make mistakes but a lot of them do seem to learn something from them and have better interaction skills. Very easily one of the worst films I have, and ever will have, seen.
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