October 28, 2022
ICU nurse Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain) was a single mother raising two daughters, 9 and 5 years of age. She knew her job well, efficient and no-nonsense in her duties. She was compassionate to her patients, calling them by their first names, relating well with their families. She was afflicted with a condition that limited her endurance at work. However, since she was still new at this present hospital, she had no health insurance.
One day, there was a new nurse hired in the ICU, Charlie Cullen (Eddie Redmayne). He was also efficient and compassionate like Amy, so the two of them became fast friends at work. When he learned about Amy's secret health problem, he promised that he would help to get through the next four months until she can get health insurance. There was a series of mysterious deaths among patients in their ICU, and police were called in to investigate.
Jessica Chastain again proves here how she can totally disappear into her roles, a particular skill that just won her the Oscar for Best Actress for playing a real-life personality in the last Academy Awards for "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." Those best scenes were those where Nurse Amy was suffering from severe dyspnea owing to her cardiac condition were so realistic, audiences will feel her fighting through extreme discomfort as she struggles to take a breath.
Her co-star Eddie Redmayne is also an Oscar winner for a biopic performance, Best Actor for playing Stephen Hawking for "The Theory of Everything." has got that innocent good guy face and demeanor that made him the perfect actor to play Charlie. He exuded an air of sincerity and kindness which makes him someone you can easily trust. This was why for the rest of the film, we are with Amy in believing that this guy can do no wrong.
This film, the English-language debut by Danish director Tobias Lindholm, was certainly a riveting true crime drama about the most prolific serial killer in the USA. However, more than that, it was also an indictment of the flaws of the hospital administration systems which allowed a crazy crime like this to go on longer than it should. The deliberately slow pace and the minimalistic musical score make it a chilling viewing experience. 7/10.
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