The Good Nurse is a Netflix true-crime drama film based on a book by Charles Graeber. Directed by Tobias Lindhold, and starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne, the film primarily explores the relationship between the infamous serial killer Charles Cullen who was convicted of 29 murders, and “the good nurse” Amy Loughhren who eventually brought him to justice. The film dramatizes a few events while retaining the soul of the story.
Amy, a nurse at the Parkfield Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, suffering from a life-threatening heart condition is trying to survive working for the next four months, till she becomes eligible for health insurance. She develops a friendly relationship with Charles Cullen, a fellow nurse, who supports her through professional and sometimes personal struggles. Things take a bleak turn when a patient’s death grabs the local police’s attention due to its irregularity as digoxin, a drug used for heart conditions was found in the patient’s body. The hospital management tries to cover up the case and refuses to reveal any information that could help the investigators and in turn, stain the hospital’s image. However, the investigators Danny Baldwin and Tim Braun get lucky when they get a few minutes alone with Amy and she points out the irregularities in the autopsy report. One of the patients had insulin in her body, which without a diabetic condition, can be fatal. She also tells them that the patient was under nurse Charles Cullen’s care before her death. They suspect Charles of foul play but aren’t able to find any conclusive evidence, as none of his previous employers would disclose any details about him.
Capturing the killer nurse.
The investigators seek Amy’s help to gather evidence against Charles Cullen. Amy is shocked when the police accuse Charles of murdering the patients but their suspicion can not be ignored as she had witnessed recovering patients dying overnight and multiple unusual codes(emergency cases) since Charles joined the hospital. Amy gathers some data from the hospital computer that shows Charles taking medicines out of the pharmacy, but it is not conclusive enough to accuse him of murder. Though, Amy is now convinced that Charles is the murderer and tries to keep him at a distance from herself and her daughters. Earlier in the film it is shown that Charlie has gotten close to Amy’s daughters and she trusts him with them. She is now fearful of her family’s safety and the only way to ensure that is by capturing the killer nurse. So when the investigators ask her to help get a confession out of Charles, she agrees.
Amy meets him at a diner wearing a wire, while the investigators record their conversation. She tells him that she knows what he did and questions his motive behind it. However, he refuses to confess despite repeated questioning and leaves. With no other option, the police arrest him and try to get a confession out but he doesn’t break. To stop Charles from killing again they ask Amy for help again. She visits him in custody, offers him her jacket upon seeing him cold, and talks to him politely. He confesses to his crimes and gives the names of some of his victims, but does not give any reason to kill them. The film ends with Charles being convicted and serving 18 life sentences without parole.
Why does Charles confess to Amy?
This is a question that is bound to perplex the viewers. Why would Charles, who doesn’t break during the interrogation with police and who could’ve easily evaded justice confess to Amy of his crimes? Let us help you solve that puzzle. In the documentary “Capturing The Killer Nurse” by Tim Travers Hawkins based on the same case, the investigative officer says that “he was barely holding onto what was inside of him” and we can see that in the film too. It is also clear that he was never caught and questioned for murder by the hospital management in his 16 years of killing spree. He was never confronted the way Amy confronted him. Eddie Redmayne in an interview with ‘The View’ said that it was superheroic that nurse Amy was able to do what the law enforcement couldn’t through “compassion and humanity”. However, it would be naive to believe that that was the reason for his confession as he was capable of mercilessly killing people who had not harmed him or could harm him in any way.
Though, the relationship between them is intriguing. Their bond in the movie is forged in mutual assistance and perhaps respect. In the documentary, Amy said that she always saw him as a child who had been bullied in school and that is why she was so good with him. Their relationship was like that of a warm embracing sister and a troubled yet supportive brother. Amy offers him her jacket in the police custody showing compassion even though he is a killer. He might also have felt closer to Amy because of her kids, the two little girls that he took care of sometimes. Charles himself had two girls but he did not have custody over them and perhaps he saw his daughters in Amy’s children. Another fact that is not mentioned in the film is that Amy upon meeting him in lock-up tells him that she is being implicated with him and her life would be over if he didn’t help her. Maybe it truly was his care for Amy and her daughters that led to his confession, or he just couldn’t hide it anymore.
Why did he kill?
Cullen’s motivation for the crimes he committed is rather ambiguous, he refused to ever clarify it, and the film doesn’t stray from that. There is no conventionality among serial killers. Other killers like Ed Gein, Kemper, and Dahmer do provide some reason for their madness but in the it’s just that — madness. They were just able to put it in words that perhaps Charles couldn’t.
In an interview, Amy Loughren said that when the real Charlie revealed himself at the diner, “it was just emptiness, not darkness, just nothingness”.
In the film when Cullen is asked about it by Amy, he simply says — “They didn’t stop me”. That cryptic answer is rather messed up, a representation of his psyche. Maybe we can never truly know what goes inside the twisted head of a compulsive killer. And perhaps, that is for the best.
Thank You for reading.
