Eddie Redmayne dips into his darkest role to date, playing real-life serial killer Charles Cullen in this Netflix-backed drama The Good Nurse. With his unthreatening demeanour, the Fantastic Beasts star seems perfect as this seemingly mild-mannered Intensive Care Unit nurse who, in 2003, arrives at a Pennsylvania hospital. Also working there is Amy (Jessica Chastain), a single mother with a heart condition and no health insurance. Cullen bonds with her, and while there’s no romantic involvement, soon becomes a friend of the family. 

When a 77-year-old patient dies suspiciously in the ICU, however, attention falls on the hospital and, eventually, Cullen, with Amy the one to flag concerns. Adapted from Charles Graeber’s book The Good Nurse: A True Story Of Medicine, Madness, And Murder by Scottish screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns (Last Night In Soho, 1917), the film is less about Cullen’s horrifying history and his Harold Shipman-like tendencies, and more about the way he’s finally caught; and, crucially, the role various hospital administrations played in trying to protect themselves from litigation. 

Directed by Danish filmmaker Tobias Lindholm (A War), who recently co-wrote Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-winner Another Round, The Good Nurse subverts the usual serial killer movie tropes, avoiding fetishising the crimes. And yet there are moments of sheer terror, as Amy comes to realise just whose company she’s keeping (Lindholm makes great use of her heartbeat in one scene to signify this). Redmayne’s measured performance largely keeps a lid on Cullen’s true nature, only adding to the menace, while Chastain, once again, delivers impeccable work.

The Good Nurse screens at the London Film Festival on Wednesday 12, Saturday 15 October; in cinemas from Wednesday 19 October and on Netflix from Friday 26 October.