Meurtres sans ordonnance

Eddie Redmayne is just effortlessly portraying a wide variety of characters but not nearly as many as I would like to see. His performances are always outstanding and this performance to date is my favourite for Best Actor. Eddie and Jessica carry what seems to be a not so thorough look on the serial killer that is Charles Cullen. Very basic and shocking story carried by a powerful lead performance. I recently just finished Dahmer and this was the perfect come down from what was one of the most thorough portrayals of a seriel killer I've seen on television. Highly recommend The Good Nurse and a solid 8/10 from me.

Set in 2003 at Parkfield Memorial Hospital, Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain) is a single mother with two daughters working as night nurse in the ICU who suffers from a heart condition but is without Health Insurance and must continue working long hours while keeping it a secret for the next few months before she's qualified for insurance. The hospital is soon joined by nurse Charles "Charlie" Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) who strikes up a friendship with Amy and even helps her during her cardiac episodes at his own expense. However when the death of a patient is put under internal review by Parkfield's risk mitigator, Linda Garran (Kim Dickens), the hospital brings in homicide detectives Danny Baldwin (Nmamdi Asomugha) and Tim Braun (Noah Emmerich), per the directives of the CDC for suspicious hospital deaths but are massively uncooperative only bringing them in 8 weeks after their internal review and with the body already released to the family and cremated. However, when Braun and Baldwin begin examining Charlie's history, they come to believe he may have been involved in the death as does Amy.

The Good Nurse is an adaptation of the 2013 true crime book, The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber that details serial killer Charles Cullen. While originally setup at Lionsgate, Lionsgate eventually decided they would no longer be involved and rights to the film were picked up by Netflix. The film is the English language debut for Danish director Tobias Lindholm whose previous credits such as A Hijacking and A War have earned Lindholm considerable acclaim and the latter even scoring Academy Award nominations. With all those elements it's pretty obvious Netflix intends for this to be an awards contender for the Fall movie season and I think this is an undeniably strong prestige piece.

The Good Nurse features some terrific turns by reliable staples Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne who both feel really at home in their roles. Redmayne is really good as Charlie and while he does capture that coldness you expect during the very few death scenes that are actually on display in the film, the movie looks at Charlie in between those scenes with his genuinely concerned and nurturing attitude he carries towards Amy setting up the tragedy of this situation as the early scenes between him and Chastain almost make you forget for a moment who he is. The movie doesn't frame this situation as a thriller and avoids being exploitative with no lingering on death scenes and sidestepping some of the tropes of lesser serial killer films by framing the story as one of systemic buck passing that allowed Charlie to move from hospital to hospital and no action ever taken to prevent him from continuing for fear it would open these hospitals to lawsuits. The movie's very much an inditement on the nature of the healthcare industry complete with the dramatic irony (that was unfortunately true to life) of Amy being a nurse who can't afford treatment for herself. Jessica Chastain is really good in the role of Amy Loughren and she sells her performance against Redmayne quite effectively. Tobias Lindholm's direction of the film is also quite strong and with its more naturalistic filmmaking style it avoids making itself feel like a TV procedural or thriller by keeping focus on the human element.

The Good Nurse is a fantastic English language debut for Lindholm and continues the strong work for Chastain and Redmayne. I highly recommend this film and not just to true crime enthusiasts.

I have not much to say about the movie. It's a proper movie based on a true story of yet another serial killer who took advantage of his work as a nurse to perform his nefarious deeds. Jessica Chastain never disappoints, and she manages to sound and look absolutely credible moving only one muscle of her face.

But the real reason why I'm writing this review is because Eddie Redmayne has shocked me once again. I cannot believe this man. Even with a straight face and not saying a word, playing the serial killer in the story, he throws those looks that freeze one's soul without exception, at the same time melting you with love and tenderness. Imagine meeting a serial killer who is so sweet but also so odd and dangerous as Eddie in this movie. Eddie's characterization of Charlie Cullen makes the viewer question themselves for the unavoidable sympathy he produces. If serial killers are manipulative, Redmayne as an actor impersonating a serial killer manipulates his whole audience.

In all honesty, I've never seen an actor achieve so much by just staring and not saying a word or looking so real while screaming nonsense.

I think Mr Redmayne is one true gem in the acting world.

Certainly looking forward for his next movie. He is tantalizing to say the least. I'm so glad I don't know him personally. With just one look of those he would own my accounts and everything I have.

Overworked nurse Amy Loughren befriends new team addition Charles Cullen, no sooner does he arrive on the ward, do the number of early deaths start increasing.

Such a chilling story, I have seen and read info about the case before, so I had an idea of what to expect, credit to the writing and production team for keeping it realistic, at no time did it feel as though it had been sensationalised or over dramatised.

What's more chilling, the actual crimes, or the stonewalling? It saddens me to think of healthcare as a business, but sadly that's what it is, the way he was allowed to move from job to job, I hope those that facilitated this struggle to live with themselves, they effectively enabled him to kill.

Well paced, dramatic, definitely chilling, for a long film it passed by quickly.

Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne were both terrific in their respective roles, two genuinely sincere and believable performances, Charles Cullen was portrayed as someone you'd trust, someone kind, caring, but deadly.

8/10.

It always adds to the viewing experience when a movie is (accurately) based on disturbing real life events, and that's what makes this Netflix slow burner so much more compelling.

Of course it also helps when you get two Oscar winning heavyweights in Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne as the two leads, and unsurprisningly, these two legit A-listers are absolutely brilliant in this one.

While the story largely focuses on the lives and relationship between two ICU nightshift nurses, what it's really about is the greed, self preservation and insanity of the money obsessed American healthcare system, where the mantra is very much "profit over life".

It's this underlying theme coupled with the fact that mass murderer nurse Charles Cullen (Redmayne) was responsible for up to 400 hospital murders (but charged with just 29) that keep you gripped and in a state of shocked disbelief as the film slowly progresses.

Eddie's portrayal of Cullen is aptly understated, creepy and foreboding while Chastain's Angel of mercy whistleblower is steely strong, compassionate and right on the money. A shout out as well to the rest of the small supporting cast who also do a stellar job.

Yes it's dark, dour and slow moving but the artistry and true life events on show here overrides all this - it's a must-see movie folks, because let's face it, this type of harsh reality relates to us all in one way or another.

If you are lucky to have a free, integrity based healthcare system count your blessings... you should after watching this! Heartfelt recommended viewing.