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11th July 2025
01:58pm BST

Netflix is about to remove The Nightingale, the 2018 Western thriller movie starring Aisling Franciosi (Speak No Evil).
In the film, Franciosi delivers a phenomenal performance as a young Irish convict named Clare in 19th-century Australia who relentlessly pursues a British officer (Peaky Blinders' Sam Claflin, embodying pure evil) and his troops through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness.
This is to seek revenge for the terrible acts they committed against her and her family.
On her journey, Clare enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr, The Royal Hotel), a man also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
Writer-director Jennifer Kent's much-anticipated follow-up to her beloved horror debut The Babadook, The Nightingale caused quite a stir upon its release in 2018 due to its numerous scenes of extreme violence. That said, the movie is very much seeking to expose the horrors of colonialism.
What's most impressive about The Nightingale is that, despite the cruelty it depicts, the film evolves throughout its 135-minute runtime into an incredibly emotional and powerful story about the friendship that develops between the oppressed Billy and Clare.
Holding an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score, you can read some of the rave reviews The Nightingale received upon release right here:
AV Club: "[The] terrific performances keep The Nightingale from ever slipping too far into a vast abyss of hopelessness. Theirs is a nightmare worth enduring."
Empire: "Not for the faint-hearted - and even the tough-hearted might struggle in a few places - but this uncompromising, unflinching meditation on violence should be seen as widely as possible."
FilmWeek: "The pleasure of this movie is slowly watching [Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr] find their common ground, and Jennifer Kent doesn't make it easy for either of them at any step of the way."
Little White Lies: "A fearless, breathtaking masterpiece."
London Evening Standard: "The most shocking thing about this shocking film? When it was over, I felt like I'd been released from a warm hug."
San Francisco Chronicle: "Just as she did in The Babadook, Kent maintains tension for so long at a stretch that you do not notice you have forgotten to breathe until it finally eases up."
The Nightingale is currently available to watch in the UK and Ireland on Netflix, though the streaming giant has announced that the movie will be leaving the service soon.
When you search for the film on Netflix, a message now reads: "Last day to watch on Netflix: 31 July."
The Western is also streaming in the UK and Ireland on Prime Video and Mubi.
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