“Night Nurse” (2026) will make you say, “Well, that was weird.” Doctor Mann (Mimi Rogers) hires Eleni (Cemre Paksoy) to work with her most difficult patient, Douglas Callum (Bruce McKenzie). His other attendant, Mona (Eleonore Hendricks), trains her, but Eleni notices that the dynamic between the two of them is more familiar and intimate than the relationship between the average patient-caregiver. Eleni soon discovers that Douglas is responsible for a telephone scam exploiting his neighbors with memory issues and uses his attendants to pretend that they are a granddaughter in trouble. Eleni begins to really enjoy her job, but with the cops looking for the culprit, how long will she be able to? Writer and director Georgia Bernstein’s first film is erotic, but if you are expecting “The Red Shoe Diaries: Retirement Community edition,” walk on by. In a day and age where there is probably an explicit porn scenario with this exact setup, this movie is a strange trip that feels as if it does not go on a full journey.
All the characters are a mystery, and “Night Nurse” almost feels like a fantasy, not a fully fleshed out tory that is actually happening, but whose fantasy? Eleni is more comfortable hugging corners, barely talks and makes her presence as small as possible. When she witnesses Mona and Douglas’ dynamic, initially she walks away, but a kind of prurient curiosity takes hold. Initially Bernstein plays with the ambiguity of Eleni’s interactions with Douglas before Eleni is all in and gets comfortable in her new position. When Douglas says, “let me take care of you,” editor Alex Jacobs cuts to a fountain erupting with water, and if you are familiar with how classic Hollywood films depicted sex without simulating it, it usually involved riding horses, an ocean crashing onto a beach, etc. Paksoy sells the underwritten role and is convincing as a person completely turned on in her new position. There is a thick sexual tension without sex and very little nudity.
That nudity is limited mostly to Mona and is functional, i.e. restricted to a locker room. Hendricks sets the tone for “Night Nurse” so Paksoy can complement her performance. Hendricks is like the second coming of Chloe Sevigny except Sevigny tends to include something off kilter to signal that it is a role, not feel organic. Hendricks makes Mona seem like a complete person who exists outside of the community, and Bernstein offers a glimpse of her at a bus stop, which confirms that vibe. Mona normalizes the scenario as if it is the expected behavior in the world to act more like a girlfriend than a caretaker. The concept of “nurse or purse” exists for a reason.
Douglas also appears topless, but most people do not care when a man bares his chest. McKenzie nails the role as the Hugh Hefner of the community. He appears openly defiant and subversive as he twists his tests and uses the diagnosis or lack thereof to his advantage and as an excuse to flirt and appear rebellious. When more “nurses” join him, his home appears more like the Playboy Mansion with a pile of young women lying around while he holds court. These women are draped all over him like he is the big man on campus and has everyone wrapped around his finger though he makes several miscalculations in his manipulations, which shakes his confidence and makes him vulnerable to contemplation and ailments. The denouement is an odd mix of sincerity and eleventh-hour sensationalism so movie goers will not leave complaining that nothing really happened.
Douglas and Eleni wind up being the prime couple in this harem with Eleni’s desire gradually outpaces Douglas, and that desire is to make more phone calls. The script talks about restraints and indeed the phone cord is visually paralleled as an onscreen surrogate for a kind of rope lending a relatively tame sadomasochistic dimension to the proceedings. Bernstein shoots it closer to phone sex except she deliberately conflates danger and death with sex, which is not new. It is easy to mistake sounds of distress with sex in “Night Nurse.” For Eleni, he breaks the monotony of her life even if she gets zero substantial back story for perspective. For Douglas, he gets to be above his contemporaries, scam a system, surround himself with hot young female energy and have a certain level of financial independence, but it is only a distraction for his insomnia and fear of aging and death. They share a fantasy world.
“Night Nurse” still requires Herculean levels of disbelief since every woman falls for his charms, but these things happen. There is nothing even remotely realistic about the movie other than the feasibility of the scam to find victims. Bernstein narrows the gap visually and shoots their world as if his greenhouse area, their sojourns next to a pond and driving around the neighborhood is a languid paradise with time standing still. There is a lushness constantly creeping into the edges of their life which is reminiscent of Alice Waddington’s work in “Paradise Hills” (2019).
Humorless liberal time! Bernstein fails to deal with the fact that there is an unstated power imbalance, Eleni over Douglas as a medical professional. “Night Nurse” is a sexier title with its alliteration than Night Caretaker, Night Resident Assistant or Night Personal Care Assistants, which is the actual title of the people who bathe, dress, groom, feed and help with mobility issues. None of the attendants are shown administering meds, caring for wounds or taking vitals so they are likely not nurses. It is not Bernstein’s fault that people minimize the professional expertise of nurses, which predominantly employs women. In popular culture, they are predominantly sexualized, and while costume designer Chloe Karmin keeps it professional. Gone are the days of dressing the cast as sexy nurses. It is still important to interrogate why it is important to change certain facts to accommodate a story and who benefits from that change. There is one scene when Doctor Mann appears to be interested in Douglas. Every woman seems to be attracted to him on some level. So even if Bernstein gave an appropriate professional title to the other women, they would not escape this universe’s rule. In the end, she is leaning into existing assumptions, and the fantasy seems to benefit Douglas more.
Who is missing from “Night Nurse?” Usually, the caretakers employed at retirement communities are immigrants, people of color and older women. Eleni could be the prior and do not misinterpret that question as a demand for more representation. It was actually a good choice because it is already too close to giving master fantasy vibes that all the employees are actually hot and bothered for him, and his behavior does not constitute sexual harassment, but is consensual. It does lead to another interesting question about who is desirable and an object of fantasy. The casting tells everyone who is desirable, and it reminds me of The Hollywood Reporter’s Drama Actress Emmy Roundtable from 2015 when Maggie Gylenhaal discusses tapping into her sexuality and Viola Davis corrected her that not all women are asked to tap into the full range of human experience.
“Night Nurse” commits to the bit and presents eroticism in an unexpected way but does not explore its furthest corners and seems a bit lost regarding how to move the characters forward. It feels unfinished and ultimately plays it safe. If it entertains or enlightens, it is because the ensemble cast make a meal out of a morsel.
