Directed by Lindsay Hartley, Beware the Night Nurse (2023) gives a nice twist to the prevalent themes of motherhood and possessive feelings in typical TV crime thrillers. At the heart of the story are the parents, Zach and Claire, who seek professional help from a nurse, Vera, only to discover that the latter believes their baby to be related to her and, therefore, her own. Even if it is not a mind-boggling new idea, Hartley, along with the writer, Dan Cameron, take their own sweet time to get to the finishing line, steering clear of complications along the way. As a result, Beware the Night Nurse (2023) is a clean, smooth thriller. Dive in with us to get a detailed understanding of the movie once you have watched it. Beware, spoilers ahead!
Beware the Night Nurse (2023) Movie Synopsis & Plot Summary:
The film begins by showing us that Zach (played by Bryce Jones) and Claire (played by Vitoria Setta) are bringing home their newborn baby boy, Owen. They express a moment of gratitude as they walk into the house as a family, a dream that they have envisioned for a while now. Claire and Zach are good parents and are overjoyed at the baby’s presence. However, they quickly realize it is impossible to make Owen sleep at night. The couple spends endless sleepless nights trying to calm the baby down. But they seem increasingly tired every day, which actively hampers their work.
We soon find out that Claire’s baby has been born with the help of a surrogate mother, Liz (played by Olivia Larsen). Claire and Liz seem to be sharing a personal bond, and Liz is allowed to visit the family occasionally. When we are introduced to Liz, she opens up about growing up in a troubled house with a mom who was obsessed with having a male child or making a male child out of Liz, leaving her with a host of childhood trauma. She, however, confesses that she readily agreed to do it for them because she knew they’d be good parents to the baby.
On the day of Liz’s visit, Claire receives a panic-stricken call from Liz, who disappears later that day. The latter appears to be flustered about the safety of Claire and Baby Owen. Shortly afterward, the police inform the couple that Liz’s car was found near an old, abandoned quarry, a popular suicide spot in the town, and they suspect that Liz was dead. The couple, especially Claire, is heartbroken.
When they go to Liz’s funeral, an old lady named Vera (played by Maeve Quinlan), who introduces herself as Liz’s nanny, offers to help the couple take care of Owen while they offer their final respects to Liz. Impressed with how quickly she gets Owen to stop crying, Vera reveals herself as a professional nurse. She shares a reference number with the couple, who seem excited at the prospect of hiring her as a nanny for Owen.
Although Claire is unsure initially, the reference confirms Vera’s abilities as a nurse, and the couple quickly hands over the responsibilities of taking care of the child to Vera, who proves herself worthy of the task at hand. Vera inquires about a photo frame containing the picture of Claire and a pregnant Liz in their drawing room. Subsequently, Claire decides to open up about Liz’s surrogacy and her close relationship with Liz.
Zach and Claire are visited by Zach’s mother, Judy (played by Malena Cunningham Anderson), out of the blue. She insists on staying for a couple of weeks to care for Baby Owen and expresses a strong disliking towards Vera right from the moment she comes to learn about her. Tensions between them sizzle, leaving Zach and Claire to fumble with decisions.
They ultimately decide to let Vera continue working in the house and ask Judy to make peace with the arrangement. Meanwhile, Vera also comes to express some strong opinions about her role in taking care of the baby, getting into a physical squabble over the baby’s milk bottle one night and taking the baby out for a car ride in the middle of the night without the parent’s permission.
Although Claire is displeased with Vera’s behavior, whom Vera has managed to scratch with her nails, she decides to give her another shot. Vera’s authoritarian tone and insistence on a relationship between her and Owen finally make Claire snap. She orders her to skip work for a couple of days. To their surprise, Vera breaks into their house that night, forcing them to report the incident to the police.
During the police inquiry, the couple realizes that they know nothing about Vera (bank account, address, etc.) and that the reference she had shared with them was fake. Claire chases a possibility and runs to Liz’s house, where she spots a box of her belongings containing pictures from her childhood with her mom, who appears to be Vera. Claire immediately realizes that Vera wants Owen for herself and must do everything she can to prevent her baby from being stolen by a old woman.
How is Vera related to Baby Owen?
Baby Owen is the surrogate child of Claire and Zach. Liz, one of their friends, voluntarily offered to act as the surrogate mother for the couple when they couldn’t conceive a child, even after a year of trying. Vera is Liz’s mother, who she mentions had always wanted to give birth to a son of her own but discovered after Liz’s birth that she won’t be able to give birth to children anymore. Since Liz is the birth mother of Baby Owen, Vera came to believe that she was the child’s grandmother since her daughter had given birth to him. This feeling was fueled by her forever desire to have a boy child of her own. In reality, she is not related to Baby Owen at all.
Why does Judy not trust Vera?
Zach’s mother, Judy, strongly disliked Vera right from the first day she arrived at Zach and Claire’s house. She did not think it was fit for the couple to trust an outsider, a complete stranger, with their newborn baby. Besides, as the baby’s grandmother, she thought it was up to her to care for Baby Owen. On the second day of her arrival at the house, Judy also physically fought with Vera about who should feed the baby.
Later, as the story progresses, she strongly opposes Vera’s audacity to take Baby Owen out for a short car trip in the middle of the night without the couple’s knowledge and her aggressive behavior towards Claire. She thought it was not normal for a nurse to behave in the way she was behaving, and she was correct all along. Vera was trying to snatch Baby Owen from them.
Is Liz really dead?
Right at the beginning of the movie, Liz talks about her experiences growing up with a mother who was obsessed with having a son. On the day of her next visit to Claire’s, Liz seems to be not answering her phone. When she finally picks up Claire’s call, she sounds very worked up. Claire visits Liz’s house a little later, only to find out that Liz has packed and is ready to leave. She is panic-stricken and tells Claire that it is important for her to leave to be able to protect Zach, Claire, and the baby.
The next day, the police come knocking at Zach and Claire’s door to inform them that Liz’s car has been found abandoned near a quarry, a popular suicide spot, and they suspect that she is dead. However, towards the movie’s end, when Claire and Judy arrive at their forest cottage to hide from Vera, they discover Liz living there. Liz informs them that it was important for her to hide from the frenzy of her mother, who had somehow located her, to keep the baby and the family away from her psychotic behavior.
Beware The Night Nurse (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Once Claire learns the truth about Vera’s identity that she is Liz’s mother they quickly act. Claire changes house locks and installs CCTV cameras outside the house to capture all movements. Next, Claire and Judy leave with Baby Owen to their cottage in the woods. At this cottage, they discover that Liz has been living here since she faked her death to escape being tracked by her mother. She also talks in detail about her childhood trauma, that her mother once locked her up for nine days because she wanted to wear a dress to school.
Liz explains that faking her own death and fleeing from the scene was essential to keep the family and Baby Owen safe from her mother’s obsession with the male child. Claire and Judy readily nod in understanding because of their experiences with Vera when she was working as a night nurse for the couple to look after Owen. On the other hand, Vera breaks into Zach and Judy’s house once again and heads up to Owen’s nursery, only to find herself trapped.
They replaced Owen with a toy in the crib, and Zach, along with the police, was waiting for her to set foot into this trap. The police arrest her and take her into custody, making Claire and Judy feel better and safer immediately. Liz, however, is still not convinced about her safety. Zach calls Claire to tell her that he will be at the cottage as soon as his court work gets over after lunch hours.
The next day, Claire and Judy seem to be in preparation for a grand lunch. They set the table on the porch and arrange all the food and lemonade while Liz puts Baby Owen to sleep in his crib. They are joyous at the good news of Vera’s arrest. On the other hand, as Zach is leaving the house for court, he is informed by the officer in charge that Vera has been bailed out since it was her first offense in the court of law. This makes him realize that Vera might try to claim Baby Owen for herself again, which puts Claire and the rest at the cottage in great danger.
Simultaneously, we see Vera mixing a drug in the lemonade jar when no one is around and sneaking into the cottage when they leave the door ajar before sitting down for lunch. As the three women are chatting at the table, Judy finishes a glass of lemonade and immediately starts feeling unwell, ultimately fainting. Liz quickly realizes her mother is back with her tricks to get the baby. Claire and Liz, spotting Vera running away with Baby Owen in her arms, chase after her. Zach, who had been trying to reach Claire on her phone all this while, finally arrives at the cottage only to spot Liz (he is astonished that she is alive) running into the woods. He senses the emergency and follows them.
Vera climbs a call and precariously positions her to threaten Claire and Liz away when they catch up with her. However, Zach arrives at the spot, and the three close in on her. The fight gets physical; as Claire grabs Baby Owen from Vera’s arms, Liz accidentally pushes the latter to her death on the riverbed below. The final scenes take up to a few months into the future. Zach, Claire, Judy, and Liz are at lunch, prepared by Judy and Claire; Liz informs Zach that she will be pursuing law and will study at a law school soon. Everyone appears candid and jolly, playing with Baby Owen as they embark on new beginnings.
