The Good Nurse  ★★★½

WATCH The Good Nurse without knowing anything about the true events it depicts and you get an interesting added perspective.

We follow two nurses, one male and one female, who become close friends until one realises the other may be guilty of a heinous crime.

Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain play the lead roles and the fact both give excellent, authentic performances is recommendation enough to see this taut and troubling American drama.

Want to be further convinced? Fine, but we have to enter some spoiler territory.

The film is based on a 2013 book of the same name by Charles Graeber about a nurse who killed dozens of patients while employed at several US hospitals over more than a decade.

The most troubling aspect of these actual events is the repeated process whereby hospital administrations were alerted to potential horrible crimes but chose to move the suspect on rather than confront them, an obvious and cowardly way of avoiding litigation from the victims’ families.

In 2003, Amy Loughren and Charles Cullen were experienced Intensive Care Unit nurses working at Parkfield Memorial Hospital in New Jersey.

Both were single parents and seemingly very committed to their professions and patients. Amy was suffering from a heart condition slowly impacting her physical strength. But she was determined to keep working for at least another four months to qualify for employee-provided health insurance. Charles has realised what is happening and is trying to help Amy through the period.

Their close relationship is tested when a couple of patients die suddenly and, much to the hospital administration’s annoyance, two police detectives start looking into the deaths.

In the hands of Danish director Tobias Lindholm, The Good Nurse adopts a low-key approach to its shocking material.

It’s more of a slowly unfolding drama than a thriller which may not appeal to some, but I found different, refreshing and, most importantly, authentic.