On July 29, 2014, award-winning journalist Charles Graeber published his chilling claim to fame. The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, is the deathly-haunting true story of Charles Cullen, a nurse thought to be involved in the deaths of over 400 patients, who managed to evade the hand of justice for 16 years before Amy Loughren, his coworker of herculean bravery, turned the tables.
And now, an equally chilling film adaptation of The Good Nurse has found its way to the Toronto International Film Festival, and the true crime psychological thriller has found itself absolutely drenched in praise, with Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne hitting some absolute home runs with their performances as the leads.
The Good Nurse follows Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a nurse and mother who suffers from a heart condition, a struggle that’s made no easier by her taxing shifts in the ICU. Her struggles are eased, however, when another kind-hearted nurse, Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) is brought onto the team, and the two develop a strong bond of friendship. But when Charles becomes the prime suspect in a string of mysterious patient deaths, Amy finds herself in the most precarious situation of her life, risking not only her career but her life and family in order to do the right thing.
John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, giving a special nod to director Tobias Lindholm, who makes his English-language debut with The Good Nurse, and noting the punchy real-life implications that the film makes apparent.
The picture is an assured English-language debut for Lindholm, a sometime Thomas Vinterberg collaborator and director of Danish films A War, A Hijacking and R.
Deadline‘s Pete Hammond called Chastain and Redmayne “superb” in his equally commending review.
The Good Nurse turns out to be one of the best pictures of 2022 with two of the strongest performances you will see all year.
And Fran Hoepfner of The Wrap also heaped praise on the film, especially for its handling of narrative angles.
If “The Good Nurse” is about anything, it’s about dedication and stoic compassion, rather than a headstrong sense of morality, and the film, like its protagonist, is all the better for that.
The Good Nurse will have a limited theatrical run starting on Oct. 19 before making its way to Netflix on Oct. 26.