"They didn't stop me."
The Good Nurse is a 2022 medical True Crime drama directed by Tobias Lindholm. Like the nonfiction book it is based on, The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, it tells the story of New Jersey night nurse Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), who begins to suspect that her coworker Charles "Charlie" Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) is a serial killer.
The film also stars Nnamdi Asomugha, Kim Dickens, and Noah Emmerich.
After the film's debut at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, Netflix picked it up for distribution. The film received a limited theatrical engagement before being released on the platform on October 26, 2022.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: Charlie claims that his ex-wife is keeping from seeing his children out of spite and falsely accusing him of awful things like killing her dog. The film never clarifies whether or not this is true, but the fact that he turns out to be a serial killer lends credence to the idea that Charlie wasn't being honest.
- Broken Pedestal: Amy genuinely trusted Charlie and thought he was a great nurse. Upon learning of his murders, she's terrified to even be in the same room as him.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: While the real Amy kept her cardiomyopathy a secret, it wasn't because it was so advanced that she needed a heart transplant like in the film. In reality, it was manageable with a pacemaker and medication, and she hid it so she wouldn't be fired and lose the good pay.
- Morton's Fork: Amy must keep working to acquire health insurance so she can get a heart transplant, but continuing to work puts a strain on her heart that might kill her before she can get the transplant.
- Oh, Crap!: Amy collapses after examining the IV bags and realizing they've been tampered with — concrete proof that the patients were murdered. When she comes to and sees Charlie watching over her, she's utterly terrified of becoming his next victim.
- Parental Substitute: As Amy and Charlie's friendship develops, he becomes close to her daughters and acts like a father figure to them. When Amy discovers his secret, she's horrified that she let a murderer near her kids.
- Secret-Keeper: Exploited. Amy has been hiding her cardiomyopathy from her employers at the hospital for fear of dismissal, and wants to keep working so she will be eligible for health insurance that will pay for the heart transplant she needs. She discloses this to Charlie, who promises to keep this secret — which in turn helps Amy trust him. As a result, she's initially unwilling to believe that he might be a killer because of the close bond she thinks they have, and then later she worries that he might disclose it in retaliation.
- Serial Killer: Charlie is a nurse who stealthily kills several patients at several hospitals by injecting them with inappropriate medications. He was able to get away with it for a long time because the hospitals were more interested in protecting their reputations than prosecuting him.
- Sickbed Slaying: Charlie kills his patients by injecting insulin into their IV bags.
- Struggling Single Mother: Amy is a single mother, and she has to keep working long hours at the hospital to support her daughters and obtain health insurance for herself.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: A textual epilogue reveals that Charlie was convicted for life, and that Amy was able to receive heart surgery and moved to Florida.
