{"id":518008,"date":"2026-07-09T18:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/518008\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T18:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:47:09","slug":"night-nurse-movie-review-the-years-strangest-erotic-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/518008\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Night Nurse’ Movie Review: The Year’s Strangest Erotic Thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are any number of erotic thrillers<\/a> in which rich old men are robbed blind and\/or left for dead, but Georgia Bernstein\u2019s admirably bizarre \u201cNight Nurse<\/a>\u201d might be the first movie of its kind where elder abuse is the source \u2014\u00a0and possible subject\u2014\u00a0of its erotic thrills. If there are others, I\u2019m not sure I want to know.<\/p>\n

But this woozy debut feature doesn\u2019t rely on its audience being turned on by the relationship between a nubile caretaker and her dementia-addled patient. Their psychosexual bond, meanwhile, hinges on cold-calling vulnerable old people under the guise of a grandchild in financial distress. (\u201cI\u2019m in trouble, nana, send me $10,000 or I\u2019ll be left to rot in jail!\u201d That sort of thing). With its slim wisp of a premise stretched into a Strickland-esque<\/a> dreamscape that substitutes kink for conflict, the film<\/a> itself hardly seems convinced by its own wrinkled lust \u2014 all desperate kisses and non-touching poses of subservience. More important to Bernstein is what that lust reveals about her characters\u2019 deepest needs, specifically how their need to care and be cared for can be as easily perverted as any other form of desire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a> \"The<\/a> <\/p>\n

As moody and weightless as the noir-accented score that blows through the movie like a curlicue gust of wind in an old cartoon (credit to musicians Sam Clapp and Steven Jackson), \u201cNight Nurse\u201d lacks the pulse required for its stray feelings to come alive. Still, the film ambiently taps into the latent eroticism of teasing out the distance between how you see yourself and who you really are. Bernstein plays with that distance like a telephone cord wrapped around her fingers, and Eleni \u2014 played by the excellent newcomer Cemre Paksoy, powerfully helpless \u2014 only frays even more as the receiver is brought near the hook. \u201cEverything I did before today wasn\u2019t me,\u201d the nurse tells co-worker Mona (Eleonore Hendricks<\/a>) after starting a new job at an Illinois retirement home. \u201cIt was somebody else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

What she did before today remains unexplored (specifically, what she did to get herself fired from her last gig), but I\u2019m guessing she\u2019s probably changed less than she thought. There\u2019s a faraway flicker in her eyes the moment she catches the vibe between Mona and Douglas (a ribald and elusive Bruce McKenzie), a white-haired seventysomething who shows early signs of dementia but still commands an undiminished sexual energy. \u201cI\u2019m not an invalid,\u201d he coos as Mona bathes him in the tub, to which she replies, \u201cyes, you are,\u201d in a supplicant tone that hints at a rich history of power games between them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later that same night, Douglas will force Eleni to call a stranger, pretend that she\u2019s their granddaughter, and ask for money \u2014\u00a0he\u2019ll wrap the phone cord around the nurse\u2019s body as she talks and shove her against the wall as they kiss. She\u2019s into it. So into it that he has to clarify the terms of his whole deal: \u201cIf you\u2019re looking for a pogo stick, I\u2019m really not your guy.\u201d But Eleni isn\u2019t looking for anything to bounce on. She just wants to be needed, and maybe to need someone in return. Someone who will see her for who she really is and allow her the fantasy of pretending she isn\u2019t being herself when she cons vulnerable strangers out of their money \u2014 when she exploits how enthralled those strangers are by the care they have for their loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cNight Nurse\u201d doesn\u2019t belabor the psychology, as Bernstein prefers to express her story through heavy-lidded suggestion. Somnambulating from the moment it starts, the film moves through a series of beautifully arranged poses that stretch their latent meaning thin across the surface (Lidia Nikonova\u2019s cinematography lacquers every shot with a seductive dreaminess). We see Douglas smoking in a lawn chair with Mona and Eleni curled around his feet. Eleni riding in the backseat of a convertible as the wind blows through her curls. The full staff of nurses \u2014 all of them under Douglas\u2019 sway \u2014 stumbling around his condo in a state of zonked out bliss as they roll on the prescription drugs they\u2019ve stolen from the residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve seen one shot of this movie, you\u2019ve practically seen them all, at least until things escalate during a rushed and unsatisfying third act that forces Eleni into an honest confrontation with herself. People will do just about anything to feel needed \u2014 they\u2019ll give whatever degree of care allows them to receive it in return. \u201cNight Nurse\u201d understands that desire, but remains far too numb to treat it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grade: C+<\/p>\n

The Independent Film Company will relase \u201cNight Nurse\u201d in theaters on Friday, July 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are any number of erotic thrillers in which rich old men are robbed blind and\/or left for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,593,409,111,139,257178,69,763],"class_list":["post-518008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night-nurse","tag-nz","tag-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}