The Good Nurse

Eddie Redmayne would be great as a young Hannibal Lecter. He is able to portray not only teary suffering, but also disturbing derangement. The film itself, however, is only average. The interesting subject is chilling due to the fact that it’s based on a true story, but it’s dramatically underdeveloped for a feature-length film. The dark tone with the sterile hospital setting works atmospherically, but in order for us to be affected by Jessica Chastain’s resolution of the problem, the psychology between her and Redmayne would have to be different and deeper. (01/19/2023)

For a film based on a true story about a serial killer, it doesn’t initially feel that way. At first glance, it seems like a plot you’ve seen a thousand times. However, Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne immediately deliver fantastic performances, competing to see who can outdo the other. With Jessica, you expect it, and she delivers as usual. But Eddie is a revelation, nailing the psychopath role, which is surprising after all his roles in Fantastic Beasts, The Danish Girl, and The Theory of Everything. The downside is the story itself, which is told in such a cold, emotionless manner that it almost feels like a disservice to their performances. Despite this, it's worth watching for their acting alone. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. (01/30/2023)

Czech TV came out with Suspicion, Netflix with The Good Nurse, who unfortunately runs into a bad one. As an artist, Tobias Lindholm remains little more than a hint in the background, and even so his personal contribution is rather limited compared to his previous work. The atmosphere is oppressive in places, but not sufficiently, and by the last act it's downright dull. The most interesting storyline is the one with the systemic failure of the hospital apparatus and Jessica Chastain is great as always, yet I would have expected much more from such a subject (and from Tobias Lindholm doubly so). As a result, it's just a slightly better piece of consumer Netflix material, which is woefully inadequate for such an ambitious undertaking. [55%] (11/10/2022)

Thriller of the year? Certainly not, but as a true story and Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne show, it’s decent stuff. The story is presented simply yet engagingly (within reason), the factual side is fine I guess, the filmmaking manages to hold your attention and even though it is not such a major addition to the genre and expectations were much higher, as an average wine night movie it is perfect. (10/28/2022)

As a viewer I feel a bit of subjective disillusionment that I didn't learn why the psycho was doing it. But so be it, they don't really know, so it probably wouldn't be appropriate for the filmmakers to make up their own psychological backstory based on actual events. Objectively, however, exposing the systemic flaw that allowed the psycho to do what he did is at least as interesting. It was nice to see Jessica Chastain in a good movie again, and Eddie Redmayne in a role that didn't piss me off, he fits the type for these characters and should stay with them. (11/06/2022)