The Nightingale

Clare, a young convict from Ireland, is living in custody on Tasmania with her husband and their young daughter. Her already miserable existence turns into a genuine nightmare when a British lieutenant takes it upon himself to discipline the little family – in the worst way imaginable. Having made a frail alliance with a young Aboriginal man named Billy, Clare embarks on a quest through the Tasmanian wilderness, to exert her gruesome revenge on the lieutenant. This is a tale about an unspeakable tragedy and the following revenge against a man who is entirely convinced of his own superiority in society. To director Jennifer Kent, the film is just as much about the present day as it is about 1820s Tasmania. Clare and Billy are united in their unfathomable losses and endless hatred, in the fight against a world in which unless you are a white man, you are powerless. The Nightingale is a dark and ambitious take on the Western genre, which perhaps needs to be seen as an allegory rather than a straightforward revenge fantasy: Is violence the only means of communication between and oppressor and the oppressed?

How do you follow up after a success like The Babadook? Jennifer Kent’s debut feature film remains one of the most critically acclaimed horror films of the last 20 years. In addition, and somehow unexpectedly, it has taken on an iconic role within the LGBTQ* community around the world. Its place in cinema history has been cemented. In her sophomore feature, Kent moves in an entirely new, but no less grisly direction. The Nightingale debuted as part of the main competition at the film festival in Venice, where it won two prestigious awards, and it’s US premiere was at Sundance. At both festivals, the film quickly became infamous for its graphic depictions of violence, with members of the audience storming out from the cinema. Consider yourself warned!