THE NIGHTINGALE (18)***
Dir: Jennifer Kent
With: Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr
Runtime: 136 mins
A wronged woman seeks brutal revenge against her tormentor in 19th-century Australia in writer-director Jennifer Kent’s deeply unsettling thriller.
Irish convict Clare (Aisling Franciosi) serves a cruel and unforgiving master, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin),
who refuses her request to leave so she can be reunited
with her husband and child. Hawkins punishes Clare’s insolence with horrific sexual violence that almost
breaks her spirit.
When Hawkins leaves to visit Launceston, guided by Uncle Charlie (Charlie Jampijinpa Brown), Clare hires a Letteremairrener man to help stalk her prey. As Clare travels across Van Diemen’s Land in his company, she confronts her prejudice head on and realises that her black guide has suffered just as badly as her at the hands of white men.
DAMON SMITH
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