Nocturne (2020 film)

Juliet and Vivian Lowe are twin sisters attending their last year at Lindberg Academy, a prestigious boarding school for the performing arts. Both sisters are classical pianists however Vivian, a prodigy, has already been accepted to Juilliard while Juliet, overshadowed by her sister, has decided to take a gap year.

Another student, Moira, dies by suicide. The staff announce that Moira will be replaced at the senior school showcase and auditions will be held to see who will play in her place. Juliet discovers Moira's theory notebook and finds it filled with bizarre drawings and writings. Both sisters decide to audition, but at the last minute, Juliet decides to audition using the same piece as Vivian, Piano Concerto No. 2. While auditioning, she has a vision of herself at the showcase receiving roses and wakes up, realizing she fainted during her audition. She is crushed when she learns that Vivian landed the showcase.

Juliet fights with her mentor Roger, accusing him of underestimating her. The fight results in Roger slapping her and being suspended. Juliet uses the opportunity to be assigned to the prestigious Dr. Cask, who is also mentoring her sister. Dr. Cask tells Juliet she is Vivian's equal in technique but lacks her passion. Juliet goes to the secret senior party, where she flirts with Vivian's boyfriend Max. Vivian catches them and the two fight, causing Juliet to run off. She is stopped by a blinding light similar to the one seen on Moira's notebook. The light stops Juliet but Vivian, who does not see it, runs after her, falling off a cliff. She injures her arm in two places and learns that the injury may permanently ruin her career; Juliet is offered Vivian's role in the showcase.

Juliet persuades Max that Vivian cheated on him and, after they break up, has sex with him. The night of her birthday, Juliet invites Dr. Cask to her and Vivian's birthday dinner and kisses him. After he rejects her, she reveals that she has discovered he was having an affair with Vivian and burns his prestigious trophy. Juliet realizes that the previous events have coincided with drawings found in Moira's notebook. She is unsure of what will happen next as the last page is torn out. She falls into a trance and through automatic writing produces an illustration which demands sacrifice.

Before the showcase, Vivian confronts Juliet over her sabotage and tells her she will always be mediocre. Juliet suffers a panic attack on stage and runs offstage to the roof of the auditorium. She starts to jump but has a hallucination in which she is in the auditorium and has finished her playing, receiving a standing ovation and the approval of her sister.

Afterward, it is revealed Juliet has jumped to her death, but her body fails to be noticed by the busy campus students.

In September 2019, it was announced that Sydney Sweeney, Madison Iseman, Jacques Colimon and Ivan Shaw had joined the cast of the film, with Zu Quirke writing and directing in her directorial debut. Jason Blum will serve as a producer under his Blumhouse Television banner, with Amazon Studios distributing. Principal photography began that same month.[2]

In October of 2020, the rest of the cast was announced, including Julie Benz, Brandon Keener, JoNell Kennedy, and others.[3]

The film was released on October 13, 2020, by Amazon Studios, alongside Evil Eye, as one of the first four films in the 8 film anthology Welcome to the Blumhouse.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 61% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Nocturne's thought-provoking themes find themselves at odds with its genre ingredients, resulting in a mild blend that isn't quite pulpy enough."[4] On Metacritic has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[5]

• Nocturne at IMDb