Late Shift

AroView: Leonie Benesch (The Teacher’s Lounge) takes centre stage of another German-language drama of distinction, this one set in an under-staffed Swiss hospital ward over the course of a single night.

The actress is mesmerizing in performing the duties of a compassionate multi-tasker who keeps a constant cool head, until she doesn’t. Director Petra Volpe keeps a tight lid on the simmering tensions and brings staggering insight into the profession, but it’s also a hospital drama as a microcosm of humanity where every patient brings their own story. A heartfelt plea for investment in health care, you might never see nurses in quite the same way again.

“In its cool, propulsive procedural tracking of ward activity, Late Shift quite sufficiently makes its point regarding the monumental challenge and value of Floria’s work, and that of thousands like her.” ~Guy Lodge, Variety

“Occasionally schematic, albeit only in the service of pricking our consciences, Petra Volpe’s tense drama is a shot in the arm of undiluted empathy for the over-stretched, under-valued nursing profession.” ~Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily