The Good Nurse is a crime drama thriller film, released on Netflix on 26th October 2022. Based on Charles Graeber’s book The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, the new thriller tells the chilling true story of Charles Cullen, a nurse and serial killer who confessed to killing up to 40 patients over the course of his career.
It is directed by Academy Award nominee Tobias Lindholm and the screenplay is written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns. It has a runtime of about 2 hours and 3 minutes. Starring Jessica Chastain as Amy Loughren, Eddie Redmayne as Charles Cullen, Nnamdi Asomugha as Danny Baldwin, Noah Emmerich as Tim Braun, Kim Dickens as Linda Garran, Malik Yoba as Sam Johnson and Alix West Lefler.
-The Good Nurse Review Does Not Contain Spoilers-
Amy, a compassionate nurse and single mother struggling with a life-threatening heart condition, is stretched to her physical and emotional limits by the hard and demanding night shifts at the ICU. But help arrives when Charlie, a thoughtful and empathetic fellow nurse, starts at her unit.
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While sharing long nights at the hospital, the two develop a strong and devoted friendship, and for the first time in years, Amy truly has faith in her and her young daughter’s future. But after a series of mysterious patient deaths sets off an investigation that points to Charlie as the prime suspect, Amy is forced to risk her life and the safety of her children to uncover the truth.
The film starts off in the year 1996 in St. Aloysius hospital, where a patient is apparently going into an arrest and the first person to come to the rescue is young Charlie, who seems disturbed by this emergency. Followed by the year 2003 at Parkfield memorial hospital, where a pretty good nurse, Amy works.
She has her own financial and health problems but she is nothing but the best at her work and with her patients. However, the hospital is short on staff and thus comes, Charles Cullen, a new colleague. He seems like a godsend, a very calm person, who is efficient and easy to talk to, and soon Charles becomes a big part of Amy’s life.
When you get to know someone so closely and genuinely feel that this is a great person, it’s very hard to believe that they could do anything as sinister as, killing people. But can’t put all the odds aside and sometimes have to put your own life on the line to save numerous lives that could potentially be in danger.
The film has a very eerie calmness to it, set against the hospital life, life-threatening situations and death is a normal routine and that helped Charlie to anonymously kill people, without even touching them. There aren’t as such dramatic or big events that would tick off his cover and reveal his true side, but when his real colours do get revealed, it’s just disturbingly insane.
Summing Up: The Good Nurse
This film is a slow burner but a well-crafted story. It captivates the audience by slowly revealing what’s actually happening behind the covers and through the perspective of someone, who helped catch the culprit. Often times these true crime films are from the perspective of the killer and depend upon the torture of his victims for the shocking effect.
Here, the main factor is that the motive of the killer is unknown, in that case, the chills come from the creepy calmness of the killer, questioning your own sanity. The focal point of the film is not exactly the story but the acting of the lead actors, which hooks us up till the end and leaves us stupefied.
Eddie Redmayne may not have played the role of a serial killer before but now when he does, it’s really captivating. I always imagine serial killers to be very low-key, calm and strategic rather than boisterous; and Redmayne portrays it efficiently. Overall the story is very linear but you need to watch it for the superb acting.
The Good Nurse is currently streaming on Netflix.