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Nothing gets in the way of a men's fishing trip, even a dead body floating in the river. Like his 2001 drama Lantana, Jindabyne offers Aussie helmer Ray Lawrence another opportunity to dredge the grey areas between right and wrong, this time putting Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney under scrutiny as a married couple rocked by the grisly discovery. It's not as accomplished as Lantana, but Lawrence certainly knows how to bait his audience with intriguing characters.

Stewart (Byrne) is the blokiest of Aussie blokes; he just wants dinner on the table when he gets home and to eat it in peace. Unfortunately, wife Claire (superbly played by Linney) is highly-strung and tipping slowly into outright volatile for reasons that only become apparent as their arguments intensify. It's the classic separation of the sexes, and the gulf widens after Claire learns of Stewart's coolly pragmatic reaction to finding a dead Aboriginal girl in his favourite fishing hole.

"QUIETLY RIVETING DETECTIVE STORY"

That doesn't happen until almost halfway into the film, during which time it's straddled uneasily between thriller (the murder kicks off the action) and kitchen-sink drama. Then, suddenly, a scene where Stewart makes an appeal over the body - convincing the lads it makes total sense to tie her ankle to a branch and fish around her - pulls the story taut with conflict.

Claire's determination to uncover the truth, especially in regards to what the heck Stewart was thinking, makes for a quietly riveting detective story, probing the mysterious workings of the human heart. In the course of her investigation, Lawrence does skirt over the race issue (which divides the town of Jindabyne) but even so, this drama plumbs rarely explored depths.

Jindabyne is released in UK cinemas on Friday 25th May 2007.