Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critics What's this?

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Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

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  • Starring: , ,
  • Summary: An erotic, lyrical depiction of a young girl's sexual awakening, Somersault is a breakthrough debut for both its director and its star. (Magnolia Pictures)
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 21
  2. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. 100
    Cornish's raw, nuanced performance and Shortland's sympathetic but unsentimental portrayal of Heidi's fumbling steps toward maturity are underscored by Sydney-based band Decoder Ring's catchy, angst-ridden score.
  2. Dreamy and creepy, tender and terrifying, Somersault is a frank and visceral film that at the same time exudes an unexpected innocence.
  3. Reviewed by: Duane Byrge
    With Somersault, filmmaker Cate Shortland has expertly served up a vivid and touching tale, one told many times before, but in this well-realized mounting, one that sparkles with fresh awareness.
  4. The character can be a dolt, but Cornish is a marvel, exuding a reckless hunger and prowling with a sexuality of potent directness.
  5. Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    This is the kind of small filmmaking that leaves a big impression.
  6. 70
    I'm sure some people will be driven mad by the deliberate ambiguities of Somersault, and by its characters' near-total inability to understand themselves or express themselves. But to me, that makes it uncannily true to life.
  7. Reviewed by: Melissa Levine
    There are lots of ways to grow up. The method offered in this Australian drama is to do something awful and then flee from it.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. PallaviK.
    Jun 19, 2006
    Visually so powerful. Very moving. Just so.... lovely.
  2. KenG.
    May 7, 2006
    The interesting thing about this very well acted movie is that though it is all under-played (nothing over the top about it) is that it is carried off so well, that the culmative effect of everything that happens is still sad, and quietly powerful. Expand
  3. ChadS.
    Aug 21, 2006
    Heidi(Abbie Cornish) does slutty things, but she doesn't come off as being a slut. Heidil is carnivorous, and yet she projects a vulnerability that prevents the audience from turning on her. Even when the girl is at her sluttiest, or to put it more kindly, when Heidi is at the apex of her self-debasement, the potential eroticism of drug-addled promiscuity is neutralized by our recognition that this sex-bomb is largely unformed and hurting. "Sommersault" is like a cross between "Lolita" and "Ruby in Paradise". It's marred somewhat by an overabundance of nudity, and the filmmaker's insistence that Joe(Sam Worthington) is a figure compelling enough that warrants a breakaway from Heidi's narrative. Expand