'Night Nurse' Review
- John Odette
- 2 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Release Date: 07/10/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Thriller.
MPAA: Not Rated.
Distributor: IFC Films.
The Verdict: A Maybe
There will be puzzling questions still hanging in the air when many viewers reach the end of Georgia Bernstein’s debut film Night Nurse. This film drops us into an almost fantastical world of intrigue, sex, and power, but it does not care to explain why it is doing what it does. I concede that the point is not in the explanation, but in understanding the need to take the journey in the first place.
The journey is told through the lens of Eleni (Cemre Paksoy), a newly hired nurse at an idyllic, peaceful retirement community. She gets assigned to Douglas (Bruce McKenzie), sharing duties with nurse Mona (Eleonore Hendricks). Douglas is sly and charismatic, knowing which words to use and which buttons to push. He feigns incompetence and is symptomatic of Alzheimer's, or is he?
He gets Eleni embroiled in a phone scam operation, snaking money from truly mentally declining retirees with limited time and cash to burn. The details of the scam aren’t important; rather, Douglas’ powerful grasp of Eleni is. This is all a game to Douglas, and he aims to play it before Father Time claims him. Eleni’s devotion to him spreads, and an eventual harem of nurses heeds his word. The nursing staff present signs of drowsy euphoria, while Douglas, ironically, seems full of vitality.
The themes of Night Nurse are not buried deep. The central plot hinges on the duplicity of the “grandparent scam,” dripping with manipulation and vulnerability, and is based on a true story. The manipulation factor ties into the grittier side of caregiving and caring for someone. Obsession, power, and control blur the boundaries of professional care, as Eleni finds herself submitting to Douglas and eventually seeking his approval.
The actual explicit elements one would expect from an erotic thriller are tame in Night Nurse. Nudity and violence are often wielded with an exploitative thrust for these stories, but Bernstein is not interested in flesh and blood. Rather, Bernstein asks us to wonder why we would fall into this trap. There are evocations of Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and Cronenberg’s Crash all throughout this film. While these inspirations are admirable, the skill set required to dabble in abstraction takes years and multiple projects to refine.
Night Nurse is a shaky debut. The acting throughout is effective, and the isolated setting skirts the fine line between claustrophobia and outright paranoia. There are pacing issues, and the imbalance between a strong narrative and motivation is frustrating. This film is bold in its intent, but thin in its delivery. For a plot centered on elder fraud, psychosexual dynamics, and a brooding atmosphere, I found my interest dissipating because the characters’ drive became inaccessible to me. I left Night Nurse with questions, wishing I were more motivated to find the answers.