Schepisi always handles actors sympathetically and here he has a perfect cast, most of whom can draw on their own and their parents' experiences.

Delicately handled and superbly textured, this fine adaptation of Graham Swift's Booker Prize-winning novel deals with all the really big subjects: love, friendship, death, life.

Ambitious in structure and casting, it packs a lot into its screen time. Quality craftsmanship for a discerning crowd.

Perhaps it took an outsider's eye - Schepisi is Australian - to capture the indomitable spirit and the absurd brave face of this island and its islanders.