sull’onda of True Crime –

A good nurse treats you as soon as you feel unwell. If you are sick or have had an accident, you run to the hospital because you know you will be better, right? Well it depends. It depends on which nurse you will be treated.

And here we are talking about “The Good Nurse”, psychological thriller landed today on Netflix and based on the true story of nurse Charles Cullen, who thanks to Eddie Redmayne e Jessica Chastain it will not go unnoticed.

“The Good Nurse”, the new direct thriller da Tobias Lindholm with the screenplay by Krysty Wilson-Cairns screams Oscar from all sides. Starting with directing and screenwriting nominated in 2017 and 2020, (Lindholm per “A war” and the Cairns per “1917” by Sam Mendes), to get to the protagonists, none other than Jessica ChastainBest Actress in a Leading Role in 2022 for “Tommy Faye’s eyes” e Eddie Redmayne Best Lead Actor in 2015 for “The theory of everything”.

We are in the wave of True Crime, from “Dahmer” a “The Watcher”To cite the most recent, arriving at “The Good Nurse” which brings to the screen the true story of Charles Cullen from the book “The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder” at Charles Graeber.

“Watching the film made me proud of myself”

The words of the truth Amy Loughren alone make the truth of the film.

The Good Nurse: Plot and characters

Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain) is a single nurse exhausted by the constant night shifts, who tries to divide her working life with the need to be next to her daughters while waiting for the end of the first working year at Somerset Medical Center, a condition that will allow her to obtain the health insurance. In fact, Amy has severe heart problems not facilitated by the life she leads. When she arrives Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) to support her during the night shift, after having occupied nine hospitals, she breathes a sigh of relief. The two become close friends thanks to the extreme kindness and availability of the boy who immediately helps Amy with her daughters, thus avoiding an overload of emotions.

Little time passes, however, and the suspicious deaths are at least one a night at Somerset Medical Center. When investigations highlight Charles as the main suspect, Amy will be forced to play everything to bring the truth to the surface.

The Good Nurse: Recensione

Tobias Lindholm arouses anxiety in every scene of the film (even to those who know the true story), keeping the viewer always on a tightrope and leading to an important reflection on the health system and on how the facade is more important than a life. Let’s see the facts told from the point of view of the protagonist, the talented and dedicated nurse made perfectly by Jessica Chastainthus seeing history through his eyes, not ours. Lindholm manages to make an atmosphere concordant with Amy’s mood, thanks to shots that pass from medium to single detail very slowly. A very slow pace, but never boring, marks all this. Already from the first scene, thanks to the type of shot chosen, we immediately enter the fulcrum of the film. A very slow zoom characterizes the first three minutes, with a medium-field shot that comes straight to the eyes of Charles Cullen, rendered perfectly on the screen by Eddie Redmayne. A subtle interpretation, without ever overdoing it, made only by micro-expressions and micro-movements. Or again from a glance or from the movement of a hand. In short, how could he disappoint us Redmayne who in his first performance in thickness won an Oscar?

The Good Nurse: critica

The two protagonists, thanks also to the expert dialogues of Krysty Wilson-Cairns never resulting in banality despite the non-original screenplay and thanks to the photography recreating the right atmosphere and consistent with the emotions of the characters, they were criticized in a very positive way after the preview presented at Toronto Festival. Right here the criticism, as always, was divided. Who loved the film, who really hated it. What unites the two parties are only the interpretations of the two Oscar awards. It should be said, however, at least in our opinion of Movie Blog, that if something is missing from the film it is the classic timing pressure of a psychological thriller, easily forgotten given the goal to be achieved. To conclude, the critic argues that, due to the narration from Amy’s point of view, we fail to know the main suspect and what moves her thoughts. The question is: have you seen the film? More than anything else, do you understand what you are dealing with? Because if you complain that you don’t know deeply Charles Cullen maybe there is a problem.

Example: watching Dahmer “We understand” – I use quotation marks because you can never understand a person’s psyche – what drives him, what his instincts are and why he needs to destroy a life. We understand what the killer wants.

ATTENTION SPOILERS (for those who do not know the real story) otherwise continue.

In this case we cannot, and we never will. How come?

Simply because the same Cullen he never revealed why he did it. We will never enter the mind of this Serial Killer, no film will be able to tell his story well in the biopic version, we will only know that he stands out for atypicality compared to those who can’t wait to boast of their method to Mindhunter from David Lynch.