Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain simmer properly in Netflix true-crime thriller The Good Nurse
“There was a rumour about him, that he was responsible for a death…”
Truth be informed, I’m not a lot of a one for documentary true-crime in the best way that it has exploded in reputation lately, however The Good Nurse falls extra into the ‘based on a true story’ aesthetic (IMHO) so I opted to present it a whirl. Plus, the Netflix movie has Academy Award-winners Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne on the helm to additional tempt the urge for food.
Based on Charles Graeber’s ebook of the identical identify, the movie follows the stunning true story of Charles Cullen, a nurse from New Jersey who was convicted of killing at the least 29 individuals and suspected of being concerned in over 400 deaths, over a interval of 16 years. We additionally meet Amy Loughren, a fellow nurse whom he befriended however who ultimately clocked some suspicious behaviour and labored with the police to cease him.
Written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns and directed by Tobias Lindholm, The Good Nurse pulls a neat trick in avoiding the occasional distastefulness of the style by turning out to be simply as within the institutional failings that allowed Cullen to work unimpeded, as it’s a serial killer flick. Whilst we’re in little question as to what he’s as much as, we’re appalled another way by the style through which a number of hospital authorities to their damnedest to keep away from any accountability.
Chastain performs Loughren with a high quality understated conviction. Suffering from cardiomyopathy however unable to assert well being advantages till she’s labored on this job for a 12 months (the US well being system actually doesn’t come off effectively right here), she’s unwittingly sucked into Cullen’s orbit as he insinuates his approach into her life to the purpose the place she blinks and he’s at her dwelling making dinner together with her youngsters. Her feelings tightly managed for probably the most half, the delicate approach she signifies concern is mesmerising.
Redmayne is equally intriguing as Cullen, though he does have much less to work with. In the admirable determination to not centre him right here, considerably necessitated by the quantity that’s unknown about him and his crimes, we do lose a number of the depth that would have been dropped at a fictionalised model. But he’s a lot creepy and there’s robust work from Nnamdi Asomugha and Noah Emmerich because the investigating law enforcement officials who work tirelessly to deliver belated justice the place the hospital fits would have none.