Nocturne-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: Juliet lets her jealousy towards her twin Vivian get the best of her. She will do anything to get what her sister has even if it means obtaining them through devious means. 

Being competitive is one thing. Being jealous is quite another thing that can be often destructive.

See when you are competitive, you are pushing yourself to be better at something. Yes, you are competing with another person to get the coveted spot but you don’t necessarily hate them. You just want to get better to the point that you either become as good as your competition or pass them in a number of accomplishments.

When you are jealous, you’re wasting time thinking about why you can’t have the same dedication or skill or talent as your opponent. Why should they get all the attention and prizes? So rather working on sharpening your skills, a lot of time is wasted on hoping your opponent fails so that you win by default.

Jealousy is clearly a waste of time and an insult to whatever talents we must have. But we still do it sometimes. A tad. Not enough to want to see your rival get hurt but just enough to feel guilty about the fact that you have been jealous of someone.

Of course, there are others who are so jealous of others that they want to hurt them to get what they want.

Nocturne is a tale of sibling rivalry at its finest. It’s not just about “I want what she has” or “why does my parent prefer her over me”.

It’s about one twin growing to hate her sister as she is pushed in the background by her teachers.

NOCTURNE Movie Plot 

The movie begins with a girl called Moira playing the violin in her room. She has used a knife to carve symbols on the wall. She suddenly stops playing the violin, places it carefully in its case, then goes to the balcony to jump.

We then meet Juliet who is listening to some music. Her twin sister Vivian comes to her room to get back her music.

Vivian is on top of the world because she’s acing at school, has a boyfriend called Max, and has been accepted to Juilliard. Juliet has unfortunately not received an acceptance letter yet.

At school, Moira’s death is announced and also that since she was supposed to take part in the concerto, auditions would be held for a new lead. Juliet feels like she had a chance but at lunch when Vivian, Max and another friend are discussing the concerto, Max thinks Vivian is a shoo-in because she should have won the first time anyway. A friend of theirs mentions that scouts from Juilliard would be there. Juliet is immediately excited.

When they go in, they find Moira’s shelf being cleared. A book is dropped and Juliet picks it up to find a weird sun symbol on the cover. Vivian advises her to change her piece for the audition and not pick Mozart.

Juliet goes to her tutor Roger and practices her piece. Roger lauds her skills but discourages her when she asks if she should change her piece.

She goes out to see Vivian being taught by Dr Cask and wishes she had him as her tutor. She hears Vivian’s piece and decides she will play the same tune on the piano. She writes it down on a piece of paper and hands it over to Dr Cask.

Later, Juliet sees a weird light in the passageway and hears music. She enters Moira’s room and opens her book. She plays the music in it on the piano. Dr Cask is right behind her and thinks she played the Devil’s Trill really well.

He also asks if she is sure she wants to play the same piece as her twin. Juliet thinks she can manage it. Dr Cask is smug because he finds the sisters’ sibling rivalry amusing. He advises her to do whatever it takes to get ahead.

At the rehearsals, Juliet gets cold feet when Vivian is being nice to her. She helps her regain her confidence when she unexpectedly starts her menstruation. Juliet tries to tell Vivian but she shushes her.

Vivian goes ahead and plays her piece and everyone applauds her. Then Juliet’s turn comes and Vivian is shocked to discover her sister is attempting the same piece.

Juliet goes in a trance as she plays and keeps seeing the light. She has visions of watching herself in a white gown and being given a bouquet and everyone applauding for her.

She awakens from her trance and finds that she has finished playing her piece. There is applause but not much.

Juliet reads from Moira’s book and finds the diagrams haunting. She believes that the figures are mimicking her actions. Especially the one where a woman seems to be holding three pills in her hand. It’s the same medication as what she uses.

At class, she feels tired and can’t understand what the figures in the book depict. Vivian gives her a look and then hands her a paper with the middle finger drawn in.

Another thing about classes in movies is that they last for a minute. Juliet literally misses more than half of the class, the lecturer doesn’t reprimand her and the bell rings a minute later to signal the class is over.

Juliet tries to make amends with Vivian but she’s still too pissed off at her. Juliet heads to the board to see the results and of course, it is Vivian who has won.

The next day Roger tells Juliet she should have just gone with the Mozart. Juliet is in a grumpy mood and clearly affected by the writing and symbols in the book. Juliet clearly asks him if he doesn’t want to see her excel. Roger tells her she’s a sensitive accompanist and should remain complacent in that.

Juliet loses it and tells him she’s been playing since she was five and didn’t make sacrifices just so she could be pushed to the background. Then she asks him if he voted for her. Roger hesitated and she realizes that even her tutor sabotaged her chances to win. She tells him he has no right to give her advice because he himself amounted to nothing and hasn’t played live in twenty years.

Roger’s ego is hurt and he slaps her. Of course, Juliet was looking for an excuse to get rid of him as a tutor and complains against him. Roger is let go immediately for hitting a student.

Juliet is pleased because now the principal wants to know who she wants as her tutor. Juliet wants Dr Cask.

Dr Cask apparently doesn’t want her. He makes her wait for an hour, then comes in and demands she plays a few notes before reminding her she isn’t perfect and needs to practice.

Vivian is pissed she took her tutor as well. Juliet continues trying to decipher the messages in Moira’s notebook and realizes they are upturned words that can be read before a mirror.

Later at night, Max texts her to attend a party. Juliet is initially scared that they could get suspended but Max is charming and she has a secret crush on him. She follows him to the party and immediately takes drugs because that is the cool thing to do.

She doesn’t react well to them and stumbles around. She overhears Vivian talking on the phone with someone she’s trying to get rid of. Juliet realizes Vivian has been cheating on Max.

Max finds her and helps her after she throws up. They have a discussion about why they got into music. Vivian comes and is mad at Juliet for preying on her boyfriend. They push each other and then Juliet runs into the cave where she sees a bright light. She falls while Vivian keeps running only to fall off the edge. Max follows but Juliet stops him from going ahead.

Juliet checks on her sister and sees her lying in the same position as the woman in the drawing in Moira’s notebook. Vivian had also highlighted her hair golden like the woman.

Juliet feels like the book is predicting these incidents. The next morning she is called to the principal’s office. Vivian and max are sitting outside and Vivian is in no mood to speak to her sister.

Juliet is told that her sister is suspended because she attended a party that was against the rules. Also, because of her fracture, she would be unable to play at the concerto and so she would have to take her place. Juliet is elated.

She goes to speak to her sister who is in no mood to forgive. She accuses her of stealing everything that is hers. Juliet gets mad and talks to Max about Moira’s book and he tells her she’s just projecting her feelings through it. She tells him that Vivian might be cheating on him.

Max confronts Vivian and they break up, bringing a smile on Juliet’s face. She feels confident and when she goes to meet Max, seduces him. He feels guilty immediately afterwards and goes away.

Juliet has a birthday coming up and invites Dr Cask to the dinner party her parents are attending. Vivian is in a bad mood. Their parents make a remark about classical music becoming obsolete and Dr Cask believes that there will always be people who appreciate that kind of music and when they see the artists they aren’t seeing the performance but their sacrifice.

Vivian gets mad at Dr Cask and pours champagne on him.

The dinner ends and Dr Cask offers to drive Juliet home. She spends time at his house and sees the prizes he’s won. She makes a move on him and he refuses her. She accuses him of being the one Vivian cheated on her boyfriend with. It is apparent that he is in love with Vivian. Juliet gets mad and tosses his prize into the fireplace. Dr Cask tries to retrieve it and looks like the drawing of the man in Moira’s book.

She decides to make her own drawing and closes her eyes only to see she had drawn and written the word sacrifice. She thinks she will have to sacrifice her sister and breaks down. She burns the book hoping no predictions will come true now.

NOCTURNE Ending Explained with spoilers! 

On the day of the concert, Juliet is told that Dr Cask isn’t coming because he’s sick. Vivian comes to see her and asks what she did to make her hate her so much because she knew that she seduces Max.

She reminds Juliet that no matter what she would always be mediocre and that they were both failures. She wouldn’t be able to play as well because of her fracture but she has an excuse. Juliet, no matter how great she played, would still have no school to go to.

Juliet gets nervous and hallucinates that she burned her hands. She goes to play on stage and gets nervous to the point that she walks out. She sees the light everywhere and is chased by the principal who insists she plays. She goes up on the roof and looks down at the weird statue below. She thinks she’s fallen but awakens to find she was playing the piano. There is silence, then rousing applause. Her family and everyone else gives her a standing ovation. Even Vivian is smiling, apparently having forgiven Juliet.

She’s given a bouquet just as the vision she had. She feels happy for the first time in her life.

In reality, Juliet had jumped off the roof and landed on the statue. There’s blood oozing from her mouth but she is smiling maniacally. In her last moments, she is still imagining the admiration she’s receiving and her family being proud of her. She finally has what she always desired.

This movie is surely dark in the way ambitions are portrayed.

Would you do anything at all to get what you want? But what if you did, and the reason you never got what you wanted was that you were just not good enough?

Should you settle for being second best and keep your sanity?

Scare scale: 3.5/5