Netflix's '27 Nights' plays like a tug-of-war between a woman who refuses to be domesticated, the daughters determined to make her behave, and a court system that does not know what to do with either. Also: a court-appointed shrink goes to a warehouse party and does drugs. It is a ride.
The setup: Martha Hoffman will not be managed
Martha is an older, eccentric live-wire who insists on living exactly how she wants, with exactly the friends her family hates. Her daughters, Myriam and Olga, do not take that well. They literally lock her in her own home and hire bodyguards to keep her away from her crowd. She still manages to slip out once, because of course she does.
The diagnosis vs. the system
The daughters push a frontotemporal dementia diagnosis from Dr. Narvaja that, to put it gently, does not look legit. After Martha is committed to a psychiatric facility against her will, the courts step in and assign psychiatrist Leandro Casares to figure out what is real: is Martha actually impaired, or was the diagnosis cooked?
Casares tries to stay clinical, but Martha's whole 'freedom above all' thing gets to him. He starts to see a machine built to reach one conclusion no matter what: everyone involved seems determined to rubber-stamp dementia whether it fits or not.
The night out that blows everything up
Lines really blur when Martha coaxes Casares into helping her slip out. She has him drive to a rundown art-and-culture space where the vibe is equal parts gallery, dance floor, and hookup spot. There are kids tripping, people celebrating art, people celebrating each other, the whole thing. One of Martha's friends hands Casares a drug, and he, uh, participates. Professional boundaries are now ash.
How the escape wrecks the case
That impulsive field trip torpedoes Casares's authority. Authorities had planted listening devices around Martha's apartment, so the court hears about their little adventure. Casares gets suspended, and his report is tossed.
And yet, things do not end as bleakly as that sounds. Martha and her daughters hammer out a deal: Myriam and Olga have to sign off on Martha's financial moves and any travel, and a trustee takes over her estate. The trustee? Somehow, it is Casares. Yes, the same guy the court just sidelined ends up the steward of her assets. Bureaucracy contains multitudes.
Why the daughters did it
Myriam and Olga say they had their mother committed because she is cognitively impaired and a danger to herself and others. Myriam, the older and more domineering sister, is especially focused on controlling Martha's spending and behavior she sees as reckless. The movie makes it pretty clear this is less about medicine and more about a family power play.
From asylum walls to public pressure
Locked inside the facility, cut off from direct contact, Martha does not fold. She gets the daughter of another patient to pass a message to her confidant and rumored lover, Bernardo Girves. Bernardo rallies a protest outside the institution demanding Martha's release. The noise works: public outcry prompts an investigation that finds no real evidence backing the daughters' claims, and Martha walks out. That momentum primes the eventual legal compromise.
- Myriam and Olga push a dubious frontotemporal dementia diagnosis from Dr. Narvaja and have Martha committed.
- Martha escapes once, which pulls the court into the mess and gets psychiatrist Leandro Casares assigned to evaluate her.
- Casares sees a system geared to declare Martha impaired no matter what the facts say.
- Martha and Casares slip out together to a gritty arts center; he takes a drug given by one of her friends.
- With bugs hidden around Martha's apartment catching their involvement, the court suspends Casares and bins his report.
- Final deal: Myriam and Olga must approve Martha's finances and travel; her estate is placed with a trustee, and that trustee is Casares.
- Underneath the legal fight: a family struggle over control versus autonomy, based on a true story.
'27 Nights' is now streaming on Netflix.