Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Somersault (2004)

A video which normally appears on this page did not load because the Flash plug-in was not found on your computer. You can download and install the free Flash plug-in then view the video. Or you can view the same video as a downloadable MP4 file without installing the Flash plug-in.

Email a link to this page
To:
CC:
Subject:
Body:
clip Your eyes are intense education content clip 1

Original classification rating: M. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

At the local service station, Heidi (Abbie Cornish) inquires about a job. The young woman behind the counter, Bianca (Hollie Andrew) is curt and unfriendly. Heidi buys a pair of red gloves and goes walking by the lake. Back at the motel where she spent the night with Joe the previous evening, she rehearses calling for the job. In front of the mirror, she pretends to be Joe, telling her he loves her.

Curator’s notes

by Paul Byrnes

The film is unusually frank about a young girl’s sexuality, especially the confusing ways it may play out in her behaviour. Heidi’s initial characterisation in the film is one inappropriate sexual advance after another, almost as if she has a personality disorder. Cate Shortland has said her inspiration to make the film was partly a young girl she knew when she worked in a home for damaged girls in Sydney. The character was written as a 15-year-old, but she became a 16-year-old in order to avoid problems with censorship. As in clip one, Shortland uses a scene in front of a mirror to suggest Heidi’s sense of childish exploration. Her desire to hear the words of love and romance is very strong, both here and in clip three.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer Your eyes are intense from the feature film Somersault as a high quality video download.

To play the downloadable video, you need QuickTime 7.0, VLC, or similar.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before downloading the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

This clip is available in the following configurations:

File nameSizeQualitySuitability
somersau2_pr.mp4 Large: 21.9MB High Optimised for full-screen display on a fast computer.
somersau2_bb.mp4 Medium: 10.3MB Medium Can be displayed full screen. Also suitable for video iPods.

Right-click on the links above to download video files to your computer.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer this clip in an embeddable format for personal or non-commercial educational use in full form on your own website or your own blog.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before embedding the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

Copy and paste the following code into your own web page to embed this clip: