A fully occupied surgical department staffed only by two nurses and a reluctant apprentice sounds like a recipe for disaster. “Late shift“, A small and simple drama about a nurse’s dry night at the hospital makes it clear, if it was not obvious enough. A fairly open attempt to show how tough life is for nurses even in clean, well -managed, very advanced facilities, “Late Shift” even ends with information about the lack of nurses that affect all four corners of the world, and how it gets worse . But noble intentions aside, author-director Petra Volpe’s film Is ultimately too much to think, not enough feeling.
Leonie Benesch plays Floria, a worn out public employee (emphasis on servants) who tries to coexist with chaos and find those around her who want. So much resembles her Breakout role in “The Teachers’ Lounge”, 2023’s Turkish-German classroom drama about a teacher whose task is to investigate a student theft. But unlike the provocative social drama, “late shift” is missing in any serious moral or allegorical exploration. Its performance is simple, even frustrating. It is as follows: Nursing is very difficult, especially when you have no one to help and patients are a nightmare. A colleague is ill and aggravates Floria’s high with, yes, life and death work. The noise of ambulances reaching the hospital is a sharp reminder that Floria’s workload is only getting higher. And no one will help.
The closest we come to a plot is in Floria’s clashes with her most taxing patient of all, Mr Severin (Jürg Plüss), the congregation’s only private patient. Switzerland offers a two-level healthcare system where the rich can pay for better care and larger rooms in hospitals where the poorer parts. Mr Severin’s expectations, rights and direct rudeness extend Floria to her much limits. If it does not sound like a nuanced portrait of class and gender, it is because it is not. But when Floria suffers from another disappointment and snaps on Mr Severin, he exploits her mistakes and we are set up for a tense (or at least exciting) climate.
In less than 90 minutes, however, it is difficult to say a lot. However, the biggest crime with “late shift” is that it hardly tries. Satisfied just to be a record of Life’s soap opera, “late shift” of design stays on the surface in his relationships with Flia’s seemingly a Sane colleague Bea (Sonja Riesen). The trainee Amelie (Selma) shows up and disappears. And even Floria’s strenuous relationship with her children is barely a thought, with a scene that might serve as a pressure point that offers a little more than half -baked exposure. There is not enough to learn anything. If Steven Knight is tied One -man show movie “Locke” Taught us that less can be more, “Late Shift” is a precautionary story in spreading an ensemble with only half a meaningful scene each over a 90-minute movie.
In its country of production, “Late Shift” can shine a light on inferior care at Switzerland Hospital, with an aging population that needs more care than ever and every country facing the inevitable demographic challenges for many older people, fewer young people. The audience in countries where such subjects are obvious and much discussed will be less well served. Writing from the UK, which has the developed world’s most fair but constantly underestimated healthcare system, amounts to “late shifts” to something like: water is wet. But Volpe talks to a native audience and seems to prioritize persuasion over particularly strong feeling.
It feels like an even more unfortunate mistake when Benesch’s performance is so good. Floria is a portrait of unchanging oppression, the type of stress that stupid the muscles of the face is nothing but empty. Don’t think about pale. She deducts this brilliantly – and by acting as a nurse for 90 minutes, an inevitable physical change inserts for her efforts. Environments with high adrenaline seems to be where she is most comfortable, at least as an actress, with Also impressed in “September 5” As a TV translator working throughout the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes. “Late Shift” is conducted on Benesch’s shoulders and she impresses. It’s just a shame that she doesn’t get more of a movie to act in.
If only “late shift” had more of a story and was anxious to spend longer with its characters, it can use its solid lead performance and claustrophobic environment. But its attempts to preach go cold and shine only a light on what may have been. Some things – in this case, are a heroic nurse who manages to be as emotionally intelligent as she is professionally superhuman – easy to understand (not care about in common) not to need the film treatment. Or at least for more to be given to it.
Rating: C+
“Late Shift” premiered at 2025 Berlin International Film Festival. It is currently seeking US distribution.
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