THE GOOD NURSE

US, 2022, 123 minutes, Colour.

Jessica Chastain, Eddie Redmayne, Nnamdi Asomucha, Noah Emmerich.

Directed by Tobias Lindholm.

These days, an audience is wary of a title with “good” in it, anticipating the “bad”. And this is justified in this hospital story.

We all have our own hospital story is in whatever culture we live, the hospitals themselves, rooms and corridors, the role of doctors and nurses, and, in the background, the issue of insurance coverage, especially difficult in the United States in previous decades. This provides a background that audiences can identify with.

The first setting is 1996, a hospital in Pennsylvania, some urgency with a patient but the camera focusing for a long time on the nurse watching. This is Charlie Cullen. His played by Oscar winner (for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking, The Theory of Everything), Eddie Redmayne.

The action moves to 2003, a hospital in New Jersey but this time the audience introduced to an diligent nurse, Amy, care for the patients and their visitors (reprimanded for allowing an elderly man to stay the night individual with his dying wife). Amy is played by Jessica Chastain, yet another different performance from her. She is a single mother, two daughters, the older often obnoxious towards the babysitter and taught her mother, and Amy revealed to have a difficult heart condition, working hard to complete her term to acquire medical insurance.

Then Charlie Cullen appears, working as a nurse, befriending Amy, their working together with patients. But, the woman with the elderly husband suddenly dies, her body taken, cremated, the paperwork for an investigation about her sudden death disappearing. Amy is also solicitous about another patient, letting her husband with the young baby stay with her. She suddenly dies. We are suspicious – and the drama is, of course, the revealing of what has been happening and whether we are correct or not.

Two detectives arrive, have a meeting with the Board and the manager of the hospital, former nurse (Kim Dickens). The hospital board is very protective, collaborating with the police but making it difficult to have access to documents. During an interrogation, the manager has to leave and the detectives are able to ask Amy more questions and she is able to be more direct in her answers.

In the meantime, Charlie has his back story about separation and his own children and no access, visits Amy’s home, befriends the daughters, is always helpful to Amy. But, as Amy becomes more suspicious, realises how the killings have happened, she is very wary of Charlie who, in the meantime, is under suspicion from management and is fired because of inaccurate detail in his application form.

There is some melodrama in the encounters between Amy and Charlie, her fears. But there is some serious drama in her collaboration with the police, wearing a wire, coming to visit him after he is arrested, offering some sympathy, enabling him to speak more freely (after a highly dramatic outburst against the police, ranting and shouting his refusal to answer).

Interestingly, the film was directed by Danish Tobias Lindholm (who directed A Taste of Hunger but also written some fine screenplays including The Hunt and the Oscar-winning Another Round).

1. The title, nursing, audience response to hospitals, nursing, illnesses, care? Amy as a good nurse? Charlie the goodness?
2. The hospital settings, patient rooms, corridors, administration rooms? Police precincts? Prison? Homes and streets? The musical score?
3. The introduction to Charlie, 1996, Pennsylvania, the hospital, his observing procedures, close-ups? His transfer to New Jersey in 2003?
4. The introduction to Amy, a good nurse, diligent, her care with the patients, letting the elderly husband stay overnight, the reprimand from the authorities? Kelly, her husband and the baby, her attentiveness to detail? Her own life, her health, the visit to the doctor, her heart, not having health insurance, three weeks more to qualify? Her relationship with her daughters, the absent husband, the older girl and her surliness? The babysitter, getting the girls ready for school, the older girl and her tantrums and attack?
5. Charlie’s arrival at the hospital, his work, the introduction to Amy, their conversations, his back story, his wife, losing custody of the children, his moving to be near them? His work, supplementing Amy? With the variety of patients, his care, talking with them?
6. The sudden deaths, Amy having to communicate with the surviving relatives? The toll on her?
7. The first case, the enquiry, eight weeks, documents missing after four weeks, the deceased cremated? The management and handling the situation, PR? Later interview with Charlie, the wrong date on his application, his being fired? No action on the sudden deaths?
8. The police, their personalities, inquiries, interview with the head nurse, the board, management? Their being put off? The perseverance, lack of evidence, the eight weeks, the meagre documents supplied, the missing pages? The deceased cremated? The wariness of their boss?
9. The interview with Amy, the nurse called away, Amy talking about the case, frankly? The later contacts with Amy? Her working out what was wrong, the bags, the hole, the disposal, the substitute, insulin? The sudden deaths?
10. Charlie, his friendship with Amy, coming to the house, bonding with the girls, the rehearsal for the play, the meals?
11. Amy and her suspicions, coming up the stairs, her collapse? In the hospital bed? Charlie coming in, her wanting to go home, his giving her the lift? The later return, his being there with the girls, speaking frankly, trying to be kind, wanting time for herself the girls, his leaving? His upset, being fired, new job?
12. Confrontations with the hospital staff, the detective and his shouting at the manager, apologies?
13. The exhumation of Kelly, the grief of those husband at the graveside? The results, confirmation of the insulin?
14. Amy, agreeing to wear the wire, the meeting with Charlie, talking kindly, his clamming up and leaving? In the car, the police pursuit, his being arrested?
15. In general, the interrogations, his refusal to admit anything? His desperate shouting and shouting at the police? Amy coming in, the tender talk, the emotional response, his quietly admitting what he had done? Not giving any motivation? The back story of his upset at the treatment of his mother in hospital when she died?
16. Amy returning home, the bonding with her daughters?
17. Information about Charlie’s many killings, many hospitals? Statistics? His sentence, in jail for life?