'27 Nights' Movie Ending Explained And True Story: Is Martha Dead?

Directed by Daniel Hendler, 27 Nights is based on a biographical novel (Veintisiete noches) written by Natalia Zito. It follows the life of a woman who was committed to a mental clinic against her wishes. So let’s find out what happened in the film with Martha Hoffman, and if her story is inspired by real events.

Spoiler Alert

Is The Film Based On A True Story? 

Yes, 27 Nights is inspired by real-life events, though the makers have taken certain creative liberties to make the film more dramatic and engaging. There is little information available about the case, but as the film stated, the laws in Argentina were changed after Natalia Kohen fought for her freedom. Natalia was diagnosed with Pick’s disease when she was 88 years old and then admitted to a clinic, like shown in the film, against her will. Later, after the court conducted a thorough investigation, they came to the conclusion that she did not suffer from Pick’s disease. Earlier, a person could be admitted to an asylum even if they didn’t want to be. After Natalia’s case, the law was amended, prohibiting involuntary admission of a person to a mental asylum and guaranteeing the right to remain in touch with one’s loved ones. 

Natalia had a fulfilling life, and she passed away peacefully at the age of 104 in the year 2022. Natalia, from what I could decipher from her portrayal in the film, was a rebellious and adventurous woman. She was somebody who liked living life on her own terms. There were some out there who didn’t have a very good opinion about her; they judged her impulsive nature and her character too. But Natalia didn’t care about all those things, and she did whatever she wanted to. I believe that fighting against her own daughters (if that actually happened) wouldn’t have been easy for her, but she didn’t give in and made sure that nobody was able to rob her of her freedom. 

Why was Martha involuntarily admitted to a mental asylum? 

For 27 Nights, Martha Hoffman was kept in a mental asylum because her two daughters, Myriam and Olga Hoffman, felt that she was suffering from a mental illness and was unfit to live independently. Moreover, they had told the concerned authorities that Martha time and again became quite violent and she was a threat to those who were around her. Martha was livid, and it did seem like she didn’t share a very good relationship with her daughters. Though Martha was shocked at the claims they had made, it felt as if she knew what they were capable of. Martha did have an eccentric personality, and she acted impulsively, but that didn’t mean that she was having mental health issues. Once she reached the mental asylum, she felt claustrophobic. She didn’t know what she should do to get out of there. She refused to meet her daughters, though Olga, the younger one, did try to come and meet her and apologize for how things had panned out. Martha made it pretty clear that she didn’t want to talk to her. Olga was the kind of person who lived in the shadow of her elder sister. Olga might have felt that what Myriam was doing was not fair, but she did not dare to speak out against her. Myriam was a dominating woman, and at times she felt quite frustrated when she couldn’t control her mother. From the look of things, Myriam didn’t like the way Martha spent her money. She felt that people often pretended to be Martha’s friends, manipulated her, and took advantage of her. Martha was a rich woman, and she might have been a spendthrift too. But it was her money, and I believe she should have had the freedom to do whatever she wanted with it. Myriam and Olga had the right to object to her ways and means, but what they did was not justified. At first I thought that Myriam was probably suffering from dementia, but then we found out that that was not the case. Martha was framed, and she had every reason to be mad at her daughters. 

How did Martha get out of the mental asylum? 

Martha realized that in order to get out of the asylum, she would have to take the help of her good friend, and apparently lover too, Bernardo Girves. The problem was Martha was not able to reach him for the longest time.  But then, one day, she spoke to one of the family members of a patient staying at the asylum, and asked to give them a message to take to Girves. The next day, Girves arrived at the asylum and started protesting at the main gate of the institution. The protesters claimed that Martha was held against her wishes at the asylum, and moreover, her daughters did not have substantial proof of the fact that she was suffering from dementia. Martha was released from the asylum after that, but her daughters kept her under house arrest. Myriam hired bodyguards and made sure that she kept a watch on her mother at all times. The court appointed an expert named Leandro Casares to look into the matter and find out if the claims made by Martha’s daughters were actually true or not. Casares was an honest man, and he wanted to carry out a fair investigation. But the moment Casares took charge of the case, he realized that the entire system was rigged and there were things that didn’t add up. Martha, as stated earlier, had an eccentric personality, and Casares realized that. But the man was patient, and he took his time, as he knew that uncovering the truth was paramount to everything else. 

Was Casares able to prove that Martha was sane? 

Dr. Narvaja was the one who had diagnosed Martha as suffering from frontal temporal dementia. Apart from him, there was another psychiatrist named Gloria Fusco who had signed off on the report. Casares went to meet her, and he realized that she had never really met Martha but only checked the report that Dr. Narvaja had sent to her. What that meant was that Gloria didn’t have any means to actually find out if Martha was suffering from dementia or not. Moreover, there were no body scans in the documents that were given to Casares, which in itself was a very strange fact. They asked Narvaja about it, and he stalled the question and gave some really obscure reply. Another strange fact was that Dr. Rothman, who had been Martha’s psychiatrist for the past 10 years, had been sidelined, and she was not made a part of the consultation process. Casares met Rothman, and he showed her all the reports. She told Casares that based on the findings mentioned in the report, it couldn’t be conclusively stated that Martha suffered from dementia. Casares was taking a bit longer than expected to submit his final report, and that’s when he was given an ultimatum by a presiding counselor named Bologna. He, in fact, told Casares quite bluntly that he needed to state in his report that whatever speculations made by Dr. Narvaja were absolutely right. That’s when Casares realized that Myriam had somehow managed to bring all these people on board and build a fake case against her mother. I believe that Casares grew sympathetic towards Martha with time. Every time Casares came to meet Martha, she asked questions about his life. Probably she was the only person who showed an interest in him, which was why he felt a strange connection with her. In fact, one time, Martha escaped from her house with Casares, and together they went to meet Martha’s friends who ran an art and cultural center. Martha’s friends were a reflection of her own personality: they were free-spirited rebels who valued art and weren’t afraid to embrace opposing viewpoints or engage in meaningful, thought-provoking debates. 

In the end, the court suspended Casares, stating that his judgment was compromised since he had been spending time with the subject beyond his professional boundaries. In the mediation and negotiation session, organized by the court, it was decided that though Martha’s daughter couldn’t force her to stay in the asylum, an individual would be assigned to her who would keep track of her spending. That individual was Casares. I believe Martha must have warned her daughters that if they didn’t present Casares as the person in charge, she would take legal action and drag them to court. Realizing that agreeing to that one condition was the most practical solution for everyone, Myriam decided to comply—especially since she still had authority over the sale of the assets. Moreover, it was decided that Martha wouldn’t be allowed to sell her assets or make any sort of financial investments without the permission of her daughter, Myriam. In a way it was a victory for Martha. She was 83 years old when the case happened, and as stated earlier, she went on to live quite a fulfilling life till the age of 104. 

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