I ABSOLUTELY HATED THIS MOVIE UPON FIRST VIEWING…

Night Nurse is written and directed by Georgia Bernstein. It follows an aimless young woman named Eleny who gets a job as a night nurse to an early-onset Alzheimer’s patient named Douglas. Douglas is at once charming, but dangerous… and lures his night nurse into doing scam calls to steal money from other elderly men in the community. Elena, Douglas and his day Nurse Mona turn into a criminal trio of sorts, as well as thrust themselves into a strange romantic triangle that might just doom them all.

Night Nurse is Georgia Bronstein’s audacious feature film directorial debut. It was a movie that I had to sit on for a while before I actually could review, because at first I sort of hated it. But, it stuck with me. And although I most certainly will never watch it again, there’s something about it that I found to be highly intriguing.

BUT, I JUST COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT AFTERWARDS.

The idea of eroticizing caregiving is a daring one… and one that I don’t think has ever really been depicted in cinema. The intimacy that a nurse has with their patients is extremely strong and nuanced; now normally it doesn’t lead to passionate love affairs and criminal enterprises, but I digress. The notion that being a caregiver is fulfilling because your patients “want you and need you” is the main crux to Bronstein’s film and she captures this in every uncomfortable and perverse detail.

Cemre Paksoy plays our lead character Elena, and to be frank, I found her character to be completely repelling. And I think that’s why I hated the film so much at first. Elena can be whiney and stubborn, but also devilish and vile. She is constantly wiggling around the room and crawling on the floor. I found her behavior to be odd and abhorrent, but I also think that is kind of the point. Elena is a lost soul who is lacking impetus. Douglas provides a purpose for her, as she does for him. I think Bronstein purposefully makes Elena unlikable, because she never wants to condone the conduct displayed on screen… she just wants to examine it to try and make sense of it.

“NIGHT NURSE” IS GOING TO BE A VERY TOUGH SELL FOR MAINSTREAM AUDIENCES…

I do think Night Nurse has a lot of issues. There are huge lapses of logic and reason here that you just have to shrug off. This leads to some confusion throughout the movie as to what is happening and why. It also can be a bit of a chore to sit through; the setting is drab and moments of excitement are sparse. Add to that the extremely unlikeable characters and you have a film that is really tough to be entertained by. This is why I think “Night Nurse” is going to be an extremely hard sell for most audiences… because most people are going to hate this.

But, Bernstein has undoubtedly crafted a story that is highly original (besides its obvious comparisons to Cronenberg’s Crash). And it dares to go where few other movies would. Its a sick little fuck of a movie that is painful while you’re experiencing it, but you can’t stop thinking about it afterwards.

For More Reviews, Make Sure to Stay Tuned to That Hashtag Show.

Keep Reading:

“BURN” Is A Dark & Depressing Look at Homeless Youth in Japan [SUNDANCE 2026 REVIEW]