Do Not Disturb is a 2023 Netflix Turkish film directed by Cem Yilmaz that revolves around Ayzek (also known as Metin), a waiter who worked on ferries but lost his job as a result of the pandemic. He had been closely following a motivational speaker on social media and gradually started to take every word she said quite seriously. Ayzek (Metin) changed his lifestyle following Peri’s video suggestion. He had stopped keeping contact with his friends from the sea because, according to Peri’s guidance, they were all too toxic for him. Ayzek mostly kept to himself in his room, and keeping him company were Peri’s videos. After staying unemployed for a long time, Ayzek finally managed to get a job as the night manager of the Komodor Hotel. He was recruited temporarily, and he needed to be the best at his job to become a permanent employee. Will Ayzek manage to take care of the Komodor Hotel in Do Not Disturb?
Spoiler Alert
What Problems Did Ayzek Face During His First Night At The Job?
Ayzek felt a little overwhelmed, knowing that he was in charge of the entire hotel for the night. He tried to be his most presentable self to impress the disinterested owner. The first guest who entered the hotel was literature professor and musician Bahtiyar. The scruffy-looking man was in a terrible mood and listed a weird set of things for Ayzek to bring to his room. The list consisted of a razor and basin, but the innocent Ayzek did not think much about it. Ayzek was a little distracted from his job after he came across Suhal. His mother wanted him to marry Suhal, but he had not met her until then.
Suhal worked in the laundry department and had a passion for art. She wanted to clear the entrance examination of a reputed art college, and Ayzek was impressed by it. He wondered why his mother thought he would be a perfect match for someone as beautiful as Suhal. Ayzek did not have a good job; he was way older than her, and he had a few teeth missing. He did not think he could ever match up to her. Even though he thought it was an impossible pairing, there was a part of him that was somewhat hopeful. Ayzek soon figured out that Suhal suffered from a disability, and his reaction was outrageous. Even though he had embarrassed Suhal, he was the one who felt offended.
While Ayzek was dealing with his emotions about Suhal, Bahtiyar attempted to commit suicide by slitting his wrist. Bahtiyar was suffering from depression, and Ayzek tried to make him realize how easy his life was. He had a good number of followers on social media; he had an expensive phone; he was knowledgeable and admired; and Ayzek secretly envied him for having all the things that he did not. The comparison did not make Bahtiyar feel any better, nor did the videos of Peri. When Bahtiyar requested that Ayzek kill him, he initially refused, but he later agreed. Ayzek tricked the professor into believing that he had mixed rat poison in his tea, whereas all he did was add his medication, which helped him think straight. Bahtiyar had quit his job as a professor and enrolled in a music school, but the pandemic destroyed all his plans, and he was in serious financial trouble. His personal life was falling apart as a result. The medication and Ayzek’s constant support helped Bahtiyar heal. But there was another problem: a man named Duvat, whom Ayzek allowed to stay for the night without an ID, seemed to have shady intentions.
What Did Ayzek Suffer From?
Ayzek always carried his medication with him, but after offering the only pill he had left to Bahtiyar, he risked his mental health. When a drug addict tried to break into the nearby medical store, Ayzek intervened and was stabbed in the process. The police pacified the situation, and the store owner, Saniye, managed to bandage his wound. But the problem was that Ayzek’s prescription got completely smudged due to the bleeding, and without it, he could not get the medication he needed. He begged Saniye to give him his medicine, but she refused to help him. She, too, was legally bound to not sell such a medication without a prescription. Ayzek was sweating profusely. He started to say whatever came to his mind, offending the people around him, and he gradually started to hallucinate.
In Ayzek’s mind, he was the night manager of a posh hotel, and all his imperfections ceased to exist. He imagined Peri entering his hotel, and he wanted to impress her. Ayzek complained to Peri about how he was always the one to have to pick up the trash that people left. He tended to look after everyone, yet no one truly cared for him. Ayzek’s condition worsened; he had a ‘do not disturb me’ board hanging from his neck, and he had stripped open his pants. Ayzek wanted to return the clothes to Suhal because he did not wish to carry favors. Somewhere deep down, he felt that she judged him for his appearance, but he was no longer ready to feel saddened by it. His inner Peri voice asked him to destroy all the relationships he had built that night, and he was following the order.
As Do Not Disturb progresses, we get to know that the reason for Ayzek’s loneliness is this voice that constantly tells him how everyone around him wants the worst for him and that to be happy, he must lose all connections. Ayzek’s thoughts were often interrupted by the horn of boats reminding him of his good old days in the sea; he missed the water and struggled to get used to life on land. When he saw Sahel and Bahtiyar seated together, he assumed that they were both ridiculing him for his unintellectual taste, and he was not ready to listen to any explanation. Ayzek could not think logically anymore, and his symptoms indicated that he suffered from schizophrenia, though it was not mentioned in the film, and we are not equipped to diagnose mental health conditions.
Thankfully, Saniye finally agreed to secretly hand Ayzek a dose of his medication. After gulping down the pill, he confronted Peri (his imagination of her). He blamed her for convincing him to start an alkali diet and for his inability to communicate with people. He missed the good old days when communication was never a problem, but the pandemic changed everything. Ayzek realized that Peri was the reason behind all his problems because people like her have convinced millions to live life a certain way. He had stopped living his life freely and was always distracted with diets and horoscopes.
At the end of Do Not Disturb, we learn that Peri died two years ago after she broke her neck while skiing. The videos that Ayzek watched were old, and Peri was suffering from loneliness and depression when she made them. After watching Peri jump out of the hotel window, Ayzek did the same, but thankfully, he survived. Ayzek missed his friends, who called him several times, but he avoided them because Peri advised him to.
What Happened To Ayzek, Suhal, And Bahtiyar?
After realizing the mistakes he made and, of course, as a result of the pill, Ayzek wanted to make things right. He had texted gibberish messages to Bahtiyar’s wife, Dora, and he called her and apologized for the same. He requested that she receive her husband at the hotel to make sure that Bahtiyar was in safe hands. The professor was thankful to Ayzek for saving his life. Without his support and medication, the night could have ended differently for Bahtiyar.
Meanwhile, Ayzek recognized the woman, who was supposed to arrive at seven in the morning. Suhal confirmed that the woman was Hacer, and within seconds, they watched Davut walk out of the hotel with a gun in his hand. He pointed his gun at Hacer and fired. The woman collapsed on the road, and Ayzek followed Davut when he ran into the hotel to escape. Davut was in love with Hacer, but she refused to be with him, so he decided to take an extreme step. According to him, that was the only way to express one’s love. Davut offered Ayzek money, but he did not know that Ayzek had not taken any of the tips that he had offered him; instead, he left all the money in the hotel’s tip box. Money could not save Davut’s life, and even though Ayzek had sided with Davut from the minute they met, he was not ready to let him go.
Ayzek shot Davut in both legs and, he was arrested. Hacer did not suffer from any grave injuries, but she was extremely terrified and shocked. Suhal had forgiven Ayzek for their misunderstanding, and she knew that he behaved a certain way because he did not have his medication. After all the chaos, Suhal walked up to Ayzek, and he offered her all the money that he had collected in the tip box in one night. He asked her to use the money to get admission to a good art college.
During Do Not Disturb‘s ending, we find out that Ayzek was dismissed from the hotel job. He had a tracking device attached to his ankle, suggesting that he was required to stay home because of his mental health condition and his involvement in the case. Ayzek was no longer interested in watching Peri videos. One night, Ayzek met Suhal during a bus ride, and she showed her artwork to him. Ayzek played a significant role in helping Suhal get close to her dream. This time, Suhal sketched Ayzek during the bus journey, and he was quite happy about it. Bahtiyar released his own jazz album, all thanks to Ayzek for saving his life and making him realize his worth.
Ayzek showed interest in a woman he met on the bus, suggesting that he was a lot more confident than he used to be. But on days when he consumed alcohol, he became a little obsessive, going by the fact that he had pictures of the American television series “The Love Boat,” particularly that of Isaac Washington, and maybe he was the man Ayzek aspired to be. The ending suggests that Ayzek had become his own person and stopped relying on a social media influencer to guide him. Ayzek’s genuine interest in helping those around him, even though he had only briefly known them, was heartwarming. He might still be battling with loneliness, but he now knows better.
