X
- 2019
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 16 m
- 2019
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 16 m
Summary Set during the colonization of Australia in 1825, the film follows Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a 21-year-old Irish convict. Having served her 7-year sentence, she is desperate to be free of her abusive master, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) who refuses to release her from his charge. Clare’s husband Aidan (Michael Sheasby) retaliates an...
Directed By: Jennifer Kent
Written By: Jennifer Kent
- 2019
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 16 m
- 2019
- R
- IFC Films
- 2 h 16 m
The Nightingale
77
6.8
Where to Watch
Summary Set during the colonization of Australia in 1825, the film follows Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a 21-year-old Irish convict. Having served her 7-year sentence, she is desperate to be free of her abusive master, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) who refuses to release her from his charge. Clare’s husband Aidan (Michael Sheasby) retaliates an...
Directed By: Jennifer Kent
Written By: Jennifer Kent
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
77
86% Positive
31 Reviews
31 Reviews
14% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
77
86% Positive
31 Reviews
31 Reviews
14% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
In Kent’s beautifully balanced and exquisitely shot film, this is the best you can do for someone without negating their experience or agency. The Nightingale similarly does not ask its audience to identify with, root for, or relate to any of its characters. It only tells us to watch and to listen.
This is a profound and difficult film, an attempt to grapple with the existence and mindless perpetuation of evil, and to suggest both the fleeting satisfaction and the eternal futility of vengeance. Nothing about it is easy, and everything it shows us matters.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 72 User Ratings
6.8
71% Positive
51 Ratings
51 Ratings
10% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
19% Negative
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 72 User Ratings
6.8
71% Positive
51 Ratings
51 Ratings
10% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
19% Negative
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
A wonderful movie with truly important themes but a very difficult amount of graphic violence to go through. The violence is embedded in the story and rightly focused on the impact on the victims. It is never gratuitous but necessary to explain the story. Some may have difficulty going through it but the story is worth it if you persevere and such an important message about the power of truth and the moral dilemmas that evil creates. The mixture of Irish and Aboriginal oppression together with the lovely landscape of Tasmania created a magical feel and images as well as ideas that will not leave anytime soon. Highly recommended!
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The Nightingale strives to be an epic and pulls it off, even if there are one or two false summits before the final scenes. It’s painful to watch because the truth is often painful, especially when so many myths of empire have accreted around it.
On American screens, at least, there is an almost shocking dearth of honest stories about European colonialism, one of the greatest forces to reshape the globe in the last half-millennium, and Kent’s humanist revisions of the rape-revenge and Western genres represents a visionary attempt to rectify this. It may not always be easy to sit through, but we’re nonetheless lucky to witness it.
The Nightingale has a torn – and riveting – conscience.
The film is filled with brutality from start to finish, over its grueling run-time ("The Nightingale" feels much longer than it is). The Nightingale has already caused controversies at festivals, where people walked out, outraged at the multiple violent rape scenes.
It’s constructed like a meathead melodrama — though with odd, last-act dissonances that might reflect Kent’s ambivalence.
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Production Company
Causeway Films,
Adelaide Film Festival,
BRON Studios,
Screen Australia,
Screen Tasmania,
The South Australian Film Corporation,
Creative Wealth Media Finance
Release Date Aug 2, 2019
Duration 2 h 16 m
Rating R
Tagline 1820's Tasmania. A young Irish convict seeks revenge.
Awards
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards
• 6 Wins & 15 Nominations
Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards
• 2 Wins & 10 Nominations
Australian Film Critics Association Awards
• 8 Wins & 9 Nominations
