With her auspicious debut "Ratcatcher", Lynne Ramsay demonstrated that she thrived on atmosphere, favouring a hauntingly sensual visual style over dialogue and an over-explained plot.

Now with her second film, Ramsay is back on equally uncluttered and mesmerising turf.

Capturing the mood and visuals of Alan Warner's eponymous novel, she's faithful rather than slavish to its spirit - no mean feat for this cult and allegedly unfilmable book - and the results are dazzling.

The film opens with Morvern (Morton), bathed in the intermittent glow of her Christmas tree lights, sensually caressing the body of her boyfriend, who has committed suicide on the kitchen floor.

Numbed by his death, she pretends that he's left town. Then, after discovering his unpublished novel, she decides to pass it off as her own.

Not so much a discredit to her boyfriend but her ticket to a new life, Morvern uses the money from her beau's bank account to take herself, and her best friend Lanna (McDermott), to Spain.

But while Lanna opts for partying, Morvern retreats from the tourist areas and negotiates a book deal that enables her to escape her former life.

As with "Ratcatcher", Ramsay doesn't hanker for mainstream appeal in "Morvern Callar". Neither does she spoon-feed the story to the audience.

Instead she has the confidence to let the film out quite slowly, allowing the imagery and carefully selected soundtrack to take over.

The story itself is an unusual string of events, and it's because of this that we can feel distanced from Morvern, just when we're getting to know her.

Samantha Morton's ethereal looks make her a perfect canvas for Ramsay, but there's an enigmatic energy behind her wide-eyed expression that's intriguing way beyond the end of the film.