Leading Australian theatre director Simon Stone makes his debut feature with this radical adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck. Transposing the story to contemporary, rural Australia, Stone's film is a beautifully measured drama with a keenly observed sense of small town sensibilities.

Christian (Paul Schneider) returns to his hometown to attend his father Henry's (Geoffrey Rush) impending wedding to a much younger woman. There's an icy, unresolved tension between him and his father, but he enjoys a fond reunion with his childhood friend Oliver (Ewen Leslie), also meeting Oliver's teenage daughter Hedvig (Odessa Young, a revelation). As the wedding nears, however, old secrets threaten a seismic shift in all their lives.

Stone expertly unpicks family skeletons with elegant, brooding subtlety, building to a finale with an implosive emotional charge - this is a fiercely confident big screen debut from a director to watch.

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