The Good Nurse

Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne headline this impressive true crime drama about an ICU nurse and solo mum with a life-threatening medical condition who strikes up a friendship with her latest colleague.

At first, Redmayne’s Charles Cullen seems like a consummate professional and empathetic caregiver, but when the mysterious death of a patient leads to a hospital cover-up and a police investigation, Chastain’s Amy Loughren starts to do her own digging – and is horrified by what she discovers.

Stepping into the director’s chair, Danish screenwriter Tobias Lindholm (Another Round, The Hunt) does a terrific job of turning Charles Graeber’s 2013 book of the same name, into a taut, gripping watch. Point-of-view shots and tight framing draw the viewer into this slow-burning, but truly

compelling drama, with one particular diner-set scene a masterclass in building tension.

Of course, it helps immensely that they have two such terrific leads in Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything). The former is rapidly becoming one of the finest American actors of her generation, proving to be the natural successor to Meryl Streep in her ability to inhabit real-life characters large and small. Amy Loughren feels like Chastain’s Karen Silkwood.

Against her, the casting of Redmayne is a masterstroke. So charming and affable, Charles Cullen initially seems as if he wouldn’t hurt a fly. But as the mask slips, Redmayne never lets things slide into histrionics. It’s a tightly controlled performance that may justifiably be rewarded in the coming months.