The Good Nurse Review: Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain leave us shaken to the core in this chilling medical thriller

3.5/5

Story:  Amy Loughren is a single mother struggling with a life-threatening condition who finally finds support in her new colleague Charles Cullen. But things go downhill when a patient mysteriously dies in the hospital and the suspicion falls on Charles.

Review: The Good Nurse is a testimony to the fact that you need not have any garish lighting effects or a haunting background music to send a chill down the spine. Intermittent silences, unanswered questions and some mind-boggling acting can do the trick remarkably well. In this chilling suspense drama based on a 2013 true-crime book of the same name, Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne pull off what even some horror films couldn't do - leave the audience shaken.

The title of the film seems like an oxymoron to the plot. What would you do if one of your biggest support systems turns out to be a serial killer? The plot revolves around Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a single mother and an overworked nurse with a life-threatening condition, who is stretched beyond her limits because she has no health insurance to treat herself. Help comes in the form of her new colleague and nurse Charles Cullen ( Eddie Redmayne) with whom the long-drawn night shifts become more bearable. The duo hit it off and go on to become good friends.

All is well until a patient at the hospital unexpectedly dies and an inquiry committee is set to find the cause, which also involves the police. When another patient, too, dies in a similar manner, the suspicion falls on Charles Cullen, as similar incidents have happened at hospitals where he had worked earlier. When one of Amy's nurse friends tells her that when Charles was at her hospital, every day was 'Code Red', it makes Amy's blood run cold just like ours. Charles is said to have killed 29 people in his career as a nurse, that too without even touching them. Experts claim that the numbers could lead up to 400. Imagine being under the care of a nurse like him!

Tobias Lindholm's directorial venture is told through Amy's perspective, who is shocked by the spooky act of her best friend. While most serial killers are shown as people who have trouble making friends, Charles is a tad different as he genuinely adores Amy and dotes over her children as well. He develops a strong bond with Amy and helps her through the hectic night shifts when she struggles with her condition. Amy, too, finally begins to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Jessica is fantastic as Amy and you empathise with her plight right from the outset.

But it's Eddie Redmayne who steals the show as Charles Cullen. He comes across as a dichotomous personality who genuinely loves and respects his friend, but is devoid of any emotions when he goes after his patients. There is a scene where he is questioned by the police about why he killed his patients and he screams, "I can't," relentlessly with his voice growing louder every second and his body trembling as if he wanted all his pent-up emotions to release. The scene is definitely one of the highlights of The Good Nurse. Only when Amy comes into the picture that he confesses to the crime, that too, out of respect for his friend, which eventually lands him in prison.

Though the film written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns explains how the patients were killed, the makers never show how Charles did it and Charles, in turn, doesn't reveal why he committed those murders. The film also throws light on the defective healthcare system in the US where hospital authorities would do anything to preserve their reputation, even if it means not disclosing a series of murders at the hospital. And that was one of the reasons that Charles, too, could easily switch jobs from one hospital to another. He even tells Amy, "Because they never stopped me."

The Good Nurse is a fantastic medical thriller that leaves us with a plethora of questions that might never really be answered and continues to leave us spooked.

Verdict: A must-watch medical thriller that will leave you jittery.