The Good Nurse

 

The Good Nurse is a Netflix original crime/drama film starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain. The film follows the true story of two nurses, one good, and one really really bad. This is a good movie, I think the story is very compelling, but it is of course very sad. The actors really carried this film and Eddie Redmayne’s performance is incredible. That being said, I like that they focused more on Jessica Chastain’s character, Amy and her horrific discovery of what her friend and coworker Charlie was doing. I think we see a lot of shows and movies like Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile, that unfortunately really glorify serial killers. In this particular film, I think they did a good job of keeping the focus on Amy and portraying him as a monster.




The main problem I have with the film is that you already know what’s going to happen from the beginning of the film. Since it’s based on true events, I was expecting the film to offer more information on the case, and it really doesn't. So, if you are already familiar with it, you aren't going to learn anything new. Even just knowing the synopsis of the film kind of takes away from the film because you already know too much. If I could go back, I would go into this film completely blind.




The pacing of the film is very slow. Some scenes are dragged out a lot and could be about half the time they are given. For a film that is two hours long, it could easily have been done in an hour. I think I just wanted more from this film. It is such an interesting and important story, and I think they could have done more with it to fill that time.




The acting in this film is great. Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne both give amazing performances. Eddie Redmayne’s “I can’t” scene where his character really cracks, was absolutely unbelievable. This scene and the scene where he is asked why he did it and he answers “they didn’t stop me” really stuck with me.




The film premiered at TIFF this past September, and because I knew it was going to be on Netflix in a month I chose to see another film that was running at the same time instead. However, after the showing I was able to stand near the doors where the actors and director, Tobias Lindholm were coming out from. All of them were very nice and waved to fans before getting in their cars. I also got to attend the “In Conversation with: Eddie Redmayne” panel the day after the premier which was really cool since I am a big fan of his. So that was kind of my personal connection to the film and why I wanted to see it.




Overall, this isn’t the greatest film of all time but it is a good film and an important one. I like that the story is told through the perspective of Amy and not through the eyes of Charlie. I definitely recommend watching this film. I tried to make this review without giving away too much information and spoilers about the film, because I think that is the best way to watch this film.