Beneath the scrubs lies a monster

When a serial killer is caught, people tend to say, “It's so bizarre. He was just a regular guy.” Everyone wonders how they could have missed the signs. The The Good Nurse, starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain, goes some way in helping us understand how a murderer can go unnoticed.

Based on the book of the same name by Charles Graeber, about real-life serial killer Charles Cullen, who is thought to have killed hundreds of people, the Netflix film focuses on Amy Loughren (Chastain), a single mother working in a US ICU who is struggling financially and physically from cardiomyopathy.

Like many in the US, she lacks healthcare and can't afford medication to manage her symptoms or undergo a heart transplant. Concealing her condition until she can get medical insurance, she relies on the kindness of strangers. Amy strikes up a friendship with fellow ICU nurse Cullen, who helps her in the hospital and at home with her children.

Their friendship seems like the answer to her prayers, until an elderly patient dies under suspicious circumstances and more follow.

You might think you know this story, but The Good Nurse, directed by Tobias Lindholm, is told in a way you haven't seen before. The bad guy is the medical system that allows the nurse who's killing patients to move hospitals rather than prosecute him. The litigious fallout is a bigger concern for the medical fraternity than the lives of patients it is supposed to care for — as hospitals operate for profit.

At its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Redmayne said the key to portraying Cullen was to be as neutral as possible.

“Cullen had a way of ingratiating himself with the other nurses,” he said. Redmayne discovered this after talking to numerous former colleagues of Cullen’s. “Cullen got close with the other nurses by being self-deprecating. He’d portray himself as vulnerable so people would protect and look after him.”

By being this blank canvas, noted Redmayne, “it made people lean into him, which was really interesting”.

Golden Globe and Oscar winner (for The Theory of Everything) Redmayne, who's been involved in making The Good Nurse throughout its six-year incarnation, continues: “Charlie Cullen was described by Amy as ‘kind', as having 'saved her life'.”

If someone has saved your life and stepped in to repeatedly help your family, as depicted in the film, your tendency would be to trust them. Who would think a best friend is a monster?

The film is from Amy’s viewpoint, so you fall a little in love with this gentle man who always steps in to assist. It speaks to Amy’s ethics that she was able to get Cullen to confess once their hospital invited him to leave.

Cullen never showed Amy the killer inside, until he felt cornered. There is a fraught scene where Redmayne changes in front of our eyes and we fear for Amy. The Fantastic Beasts star told Variety that “Cullen weaponised his empathy to do horrific things”.

Redmayne was nominated for a Bafta for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor — Motion Picture and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in The Good Nurse.

WATCH: Margaret Gardiner interview Eddie Redmayne about his role in The Good Nurse