The Nightingale premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on 6 September 2018, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion and won the Special Jury Prize, while Ganambarr won the Marcello Mastroianni Award. The film was theatrically released in Australia on 29 August 2019 and was a box office failure, grossing only $988,687 against its $2 million production budget. Despite generating controversy for its graphic portrayal of rape and murder, it received critical acclaim, with particular praise for Kent's direction, the performances of the cast, and acknowledgement of racial violence in Australia. It is the first film to include palawa kani, a reconstructed form of the once extinct Tasmanian languages.
In 1825, on the eve of the Black War, Irish convict Clare Carroll works as a servant for a Colonial force detachment commanded by Lieutenant Hawkins. The unit is visited by an officer to see if Hawkins is fit for promotion. Clare, nicknamed "Nightingale", sings and serves drinks for the men. After work, Clare visits Hawkins to make an inquiry, and he forces her to sing a special song for him. Hawkins makes unwanted advances to her and Clare rebuffs them. She asks about getting a letter of recommendation that would free her, her husband Aidan, and their infant daughter Bridget. But Hawkins rapes her for her perceived insolence. Aidan suspects that Clare has been hurt and tries to persuade Hawkins to give the letter.
That night, Aidan engages in a brawl with Hawkins, his second-in-command Sergeant Ruse, and Ensign Jago. The visiting officer witnesses the incident and decides that he is unfit for promotion. Hawkins commands Ruse and Jago to gather supplies for a journey through the bush to the town of Launceston, in hopes of negotiating with the officer. Before departing, the soldiers intercept the Carroll family as they attempt to flee. Hawkins rapes Clare again and orders Ruse to do so as well, which he does. Hawkins shoots and kills Aidan, and commands Jago to quiet Clare's crying daughter; he kills Bridget.
The following morning, Clare awakes. She reports the incident to an RMP officer, but realizes that he's no help. She decides to seek revenge herself, with the help of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy. Clare tells Billy she wants to rendezvous with her husband who accompanies the colonial forces. At first, Clare is openly racist towards Billy while he sees her as being no different from the English colonists who murdered his family.
Their mutual hostility dissipates, however, as they learn about each other's terrible losses and realize that they are both members of conquered peoples with persecuted cultures. Billy tells Clare that his true name is Mangana, palawa kani for "blackbird", the yellow-tailed black cockatoo. He wants to go north to reunite with the female survivors of his tribe.
Meanwhile, the officers recruit three white convicts and an Aboriginal tracker, Charlie, for their journey. Hawkins takes a liking to one of the convicts, a child named Eddie. Ruse kidnaps an indigenous woman named Lowanna to be used as a sex slave. Aboriginal men kill one of the convicts and injure Jago in an unsuccessful rescue mission. Hawkins holds Lowanna hostage, then kills her, distracting the men.
He, Ruse, and the convicts flee, leaving Jago behind. Later, Clare and Mangana stumble upon Jago, whom the tracker assumes is her husband. Clare corners Jago, stabbing and beating him to death (an event that haunts her later nightmares). A shocked Mangana considers abandoning Clare, but when he learns the reasons behind her quest for revenge, he decides to stay.
Charlie, in revenge for the soldiers' brutality toward the natives, diverts the journey to a dead end on a mountain summit. Ruse kills him, but Hawkins chastises Ruse, as Charlie was the only one who could have led them out of the bush. He forces Ruse to take over as guide on the way back down.
After Clare and Mangana find Charlie's body, Mangana performs burial rites and tells Clare that he, too, seeks vengeance. The two approach the group of four men, but Clare freezes when she sees Hawkins, allowing him to graze her with a musket shot, forcing Clare and Mangana to split up. Mangana is found and forced to be the new guide. He brings the soldiers back to the main path to Launceston, and Hawkins orders Eddie to kill Mangana, but Eddie hesitates, allowing Mangana to escape. Hawkins tries to abandon Eddie, but when Eddie begs for a second chance, Hawkins shoots and kills him.
Clare finds her way back onto the main path and reunites with Mangana. They encounter a chain gang of Aboriginal men, one of whom tells Mangana that he is the last of his people. When the prisoner yells at his captors about their treatment of indigenous people, they shoot him and the others dead before proceeding to take their heads as trophies. Later, while eating dinner with a sympathetic English couple, Mangana weeps openly, lamenting the loss of his people and home.
In Launceston, Clare confronts the newly promoted Hawkins as a mass murderer and a rapist in front of his fellow officers. Mangana watches in hiding. The two flee town, but Mangana dons war paint, and returns, despite Clare's pleas that he will be murdered.
She follows as Mangana enters the hostel where Hawkins and Ruse are lodged. The tracker kills them both, but Ruse shoots and severely wounds him. Clare and Mangana flee, reaching a beach where Mangana sings and dances, declaring himself a free man. Clare sings a Sean-nós song in the Irish language as the two watch the sun rise.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2019)
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, director Jennifer Kent was "deluged" with film scripts from the United States after the success of her debut film The Babadook (2014), but decided to focus on writing and directing The Nightingale.[9] IndieWire reported that shooting for The Nightingale began on location in Tasmania in March 2017.[10]
Due to the brutality of the film's scenes, psychologists were brought on set to support the actors.[11]
IFC Films bought the rights to distribute the film in the US and set a release for summer 2019, following its festival run.[16] It was released in the US on 2 August 2019 by IFC Films, and in Australia on 29 August by Transmission Films.[17][18]
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Nightingale holds an approval rating of 86%, based on 241 reviews, and an average rating of 7.5/10. Its consensus reads "The Nightingale definitely isn't for all tastes, but writer-director Jennifer Kent taps into a rich vein of palpable rage to tell a war story that leaves a bruising impact".[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally-favorable reviews".[20]
Marcella Papandrea from The Super Network said "There is no doubt The Nightingale won't be an easy watch for most, but it is an important watch. Jennifer Kent has carefully and respectfully crafted a brutal story, spilling harsh truths along the way".[21]
Controversy
The Nightingale received media attention following its initial screenings at the Sydney Film Festival, where approximately 30 of 600 film-goers walked out of the cinema[22] due to its graphic depictions of rape and murder.
One viewer was heard shouting "I'm not watching this; she's already been raped twice", as she exited the cinema. Kent defended the decision to show such violence, saying that the film contains historically accurate depictions of the violence and racism that were inflicted upon the indigenous Australian people of that time.[22] The film was produced in collaboration with Tasmanian Aboriginal elders. They asserted that this is an honest and necessary depiction of their history and a story that needs to be told. Kent said she understands the negative reactions, but said that she remained enormously proud of the film and stressed to audiences that this film is about "a need for love, compassion, and kindness in dark times".[23]
At the 75th Venice International Film Festival, Italian film critic Sharif Meghdoud shouted, "Shame on you, whore, you’re disgusting!" when Kent's name appeared in the film's credits. The Nightingale was the only film directed by a woman to be included in the festival's main competition.[24][25]
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough in the teen film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). She received critical praise for her performances in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Miami Blues (1990), Backdraft (1991), Single White Female (1992), and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994).
Esther "Essie" Davis is an Australian actress and singer, best known for her roles as Phryne Fisher in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and its film adaptation, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, and as Amelia Vanek in The Babadook. Other major works include a recurring role as Lady Crane in season six of the television series Game of Thrones, Sister Iphigenia in Lambs of God, and the role of Ellen Kelly in Justin Kurzel's True History of the Kelly Gang.
Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land.
Sally Cecilia Hawkins is an English actress who began her career on stage and then moved into film. She has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards.
Jennifer Lynn Siebel Newsom is an American documentary filmmaker and actress who is the first lady of California, as the wife of Governor Gavin Newsom. She is the director, writer, and producer of the film Miss Representation (2011), which premiered in the documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The film examines how the media has underrepresented women in positions of power. The Mask You Live In (2015), the second film that she wrote, produced and directed, scrutinizes American society's definition of masculinity.
Daniel Edwin Henshall is an Australian actor. Following his film debut in Snowtown (2011), for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henshall appeared in films such as The Babadook (2014), Okja (2017), Acute Misfortune (2018), and Catch the Fair One (2021).
Anomalisa is a 2015 American adult stop-motion psychological comedy-drama film directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson and written by Kaufman. It is based on a 2005 audio play by Kaufman that explores the Fregoli delusion. Anomalisa follows the British middle-aged customer service expert Michael Stone, who perceives everyone as identical except for Lisa Hesselman, whom he meets in a Cincinnati hotel.
The Babadook is a 2014 Australian psychological horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent in her feature directorial debut, based on her 2005 short film Monster. Starring Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, and Ben Winspear, the film follows a widowed single mother who with her son must confront a mysterious humanoid monster in their home.
Jennifer Kent is an Australian director, screenwriter, and former actress. She is best known for writing and directing the psychological horror film The Babadook (2014). Her second film, The Nightingale (2018), premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Lion.
Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, known together online as RackaRacka, are Australian twin filmmakers, YouTubers, and stunt performers. They are known for their horror comedy YouTube videos. They won numerous awards, including the Best International Channel Streamy Award, Best Overall at the Online Video Awards, and the AACTA Award for the Best Web Show.
Aisling Franciosi is an Irish actress. She won an AACTA Award for her leading role in the film The Nightingale (2018). On television, she is known for her roles in the RTÉ-BBC Two crime drama The Fall (2013–2016), season 2 of the TNT series Legends (2015), and the BBC One miniseries Black Narcissus (2020).
Maminydjama Maymuru, known as Magnolia Maymuru, is an Aboriginal Australian actress and model who won Best Supporting Actress at the 9th AACTA awards, for her portrayal in The Nightingale. She was born in Yirrkala in the Northern Territory of Australia and belongs to the Yolngu community.
Sweet Country is a 2017 Australian drama film, directed by Warwick Thornton. Set in 1929 in the sparsely populated outback of the Northern Territory and based on a series of true events, it tells a harsh story against the backdrop of a divided society in the interwar period in Australia.
Marriage Story is a 2019 American drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who also produced the film with David Heyman. It stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver as a couple going through a bi-coastal divorce complicated by custody issues surrounding their son. Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Julie Hagerty, and Merritt Wever appear in supporting roles.
The 75th Venice International Film Festival was held from 29 August to 8 September 2018.
Baykali Ganambarr is an Aboriginal Australian actor and dancer from Elcho Island (Galiwin'ku), Queensland. he is known for his role as a tracker in the 2018 film The Nightingale.
The Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, formerly Buku-Larrŋgay Arts and also known as the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre and Museum, is an art centre in Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is often referred to as Buku for short. It is one of many Indigenous art centres across Australia, which support their communities and make them self-reliant – an Australian invention. Many notable artists have worked or continue to work at the centre.
The 16th Irish Film & Television Academy Awards took place on 18 October 2020. Because no ceremony was held in 2019, this ceremony honoured films and television drama released in both 2018 and 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no physical ceremony took place; instead, there was a "virtual ceremony" hosted by Deirdre O’Kane.
The Furnace is a 2020 Australian adventure drama film written and directed by Roderick MacKay. Set in the Western Australian outback during the goldrushes of the 1890s, the film's characters include "Afghan" cameleers, a white gold thief, and local Aboriginal people. It was nominated for several AACTA Awards.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
