Nocturnal Animals: It Won’t Put You to Sleep

Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals (2016) is one of the most stylish, disturbing, and intelligent thrillers of the last decade. It’s a film that stuck with me long after the credits rolled — and as someone who has watched every single Amy Adams movie, I can confidently say this is one of her very best performances.

Amy Adams: My Forever FavoriteI’m a massive Amy Adams fan. From Enchanted to Arrival, The Fighter, Vice, and Big Eyes, she has never disappointed me. In Nocturnal Animals, she delivers a quiet, haunting performance as Susan Morrow — a wealthy but deeply unhappy Los Angeles art gallery owner trapped in a cold, materialistic life. Her face carries the entire emotional weight of the film. You can feel her regret, anxiety, and loneliness in every scene. She’s simply phenomenal.The Brilliant ConceptThe film is based on the 1993 novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright. Tom Ford (yes, the fashion designer) adapted and directed it with incredible precision. The story is layered: Susan receives a manuscript from her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) titled Nocturnal Animals. As she reads it, we watch the brutal story unfold on screen.
What makes this concept so brilliant is that Amy Adams and Isla Fisher play look-alike characters in the same movie — but they never meet. Isla plays Laura, the wife in Edward’s violent novel. The visual similarity is intentional and deeply unsettling. It’s one of the smartest meta touches I’ve seen in a long time.

Critical & Commercial PerformanceNocturnal Animals received generally positive reviews, holding a solid 74% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on nearly 300 critic reviews). Critics praised Tom Ford’s sleek direction, the powerful performances, and the film’s psychological depth. Commercially, it was a modest success — made on a $22.5 million budget and grossing $32.4 million worldwide. It wasn’t a massive blockbuster, but it performed well for a slow-burn art-house thriller.

Themes and DepthNocturnal Animals is much more than a thriller. It’s a savage commentary on:

• Revenge — How stories can be used as weapons.
• Class divide — Between the privileged, empty elite and raw, working-class violence.
• Art vs Reality — The power of fiction to expose truth.
• Regret and failure — What happens when you betray someone who truly loved you.

The film is soaked in symbolism — from the grotesque art pieces in Susan’s gallery to the lonely Texas highways. Every frame feels intentional.The One Big Flaw: That EndingThe plot itself is gripping and terrifying, especially the nightmarish road scene in the manuscript. However, I have one major problem with the film: the ending of the story-within-the-story.
Without spoiling too much, Jake Gyllenhaal’s character (Tony) finally gets his revenge… only to accidentally fall and shoot himself in a ridiculous, almost comical way. It felt cheap and unconvincing. In real life, that would never happen.
A much stronger and more poetic ending would have been Tony successfully escaping — perhaps catching a ride as a hitchhiker and disappearing into the night. That would have perfectly mirrored what happened in real life between Edward and Susan, and it would have left the audience with an even colder, more haunting feeling.Final VerdictDespite that slightly disappointing ending, Nocturnal Animals is still a 9/10 for me. It’s visually stunning, psychologically deep, and incredibly rewatchable. Tom Ford proved he’s not just a fashion icon — he’s a real filmmaker.
If you love slow-burn psychological thrillers with incredible acting and sharp social commentary, watch this movie immediately.
Amy Adams continues to prove why she’s one of the greatest actresses of her generation. And Nocturnal Animals might just be her most underrated performance.
Have you seen it? What did you think of that ending? Let me know in the comments!