- Date of Release: 17 February 2025
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Language: German
Late Shift
Introduction
It is interesting on how the setting often defines the pace of the drama. If it was a busy restaurant in the 2021 English film Boiling Point, the setting remains that of a hospital in Late Shift, Switzerland’s Official Submission to the Oscars of 2026. Hospitals are usually associated with doctors – the kingpins of the medical fraternity who tend to treat the patients that approach them. But the invisible rear guard action is often provided by a chain of emergency workers, medical interns, nurses and ward staff that often form the spinal cord of a hospital in a medical sector that also works on a hierarchy. It is similar to a big budget blockbuster film that may have your superstars at the helm of things, but the film is often shouldered by the entire cast of crew – both visible onscreen and invisible onscreen, who ably pull off your film. But one trait associated with the setting is that of chaos – wherein most medical folks need to be on their toes, for time remains an important metric, enough to be the difference between life and death. And so when you are first introduced to Floria (Leonie Benesch), it remains the calm the storm that she would have to endure in your extended ‘Late Shift’.
Story & Screenplay
Written by Petra Volpe, Late Shift wishes to present itself like a medical thriller with flairing and escalating levels of tension wrapped in a box of empathy that pays a heartfelt tribute to the health care workers working relentlessly round the clock. For Floria, the task remains enormous – of having to take care of twenty five patients in company of a young nursing student, Amelie, in what feels like another hectic day at work. The list of patients include a man from Burkina Faso who is a loner in the country, an elderly woman suffering from constipation even with her daughter ringing in about her health from Boston, a rich patient suffering from pancreatic cancer, a woman suffering from cancer with her husband and children around her, another elderly woman also suffering from cancer, and a elderly man having a gall bladder surgery. And each patient here brings a different dimension of chaos, of wanting to be looked after – except that the POV of the film is built through the gaze of Floria who doesn’t get a single minute of respite for almost two-thirds of the drama.
While the drama is veiled as a medical thriller, the POV of Floria ensures on how this becomes a character-driven plot and in turn, a character study of other health workers too. Floria remains an epitome of so many health workers out there, maybe even for someone like Amelie (Selma Jamal Aldin) whom we only get glimpses of. Therein also lays the irony of the invisible nature of these health care workers, who work tirelessly in what remains a thankless job. And it immediately transported me to a moment of empathy onscreen in the Hindi film Munnabhai MBBS wherein the character of Munna goes about hugging a member ward staff for the excellent work that he has been doing in terms of keeping the premises of the hospital clean. In the same breath, empathy remains an important virtue here, even as Floria is often the victim of rage and impatience at her hospital.
Floria is essentially a character that has built her persona of grace, empathy and calmness. At the start even when instructed by her colleague about the overcrowded nature of the hospital featuring patients that have been pouring in through the night, her demeanor doesn’t change – instead she is accomodative and flexible in adapting to the situation, silently bearing the brunt and the tantrums of her patients with a stoic face and maybe an empathetic smile at times. Empathy remains her core virtue – calming the nerves of the family members of patients, going an extra mile to sing a lullaby to her elderly patient, continuing to insert an injection even while being violently pushed back by her patients, or quietly inquiring about the health of a few others.
In the process, you also learn that her personal life has taken a backseat – Floria is a single mother who doesn’t get enough time to spend with her daughter. In a scene, we see her talking to her for just about a minute between her work, elsewhere, we see her taking a sip of water almost an hour and some minutes into the film. Life is hard for Floria, and much of it has to do with the issue of the hospital being heavily understaffed – a nod to the note at the end that would go onto reveal a staggering stat that is worrying and also gut-wrenching.
The trajectory of the drama through the night goes hand-in-hand with the trajectory of Floria, who finds herself in the eye of the storm. The pressure is such that she mistakenly swaps the doses of two of her patients – thankfully reacting in time to save her patient from a reaction. You can see the pressure building even when Floria stares at water boiling in a jar, or momentarily losing her cool to throw an expensive watch of her patient out of the window, or also being at the tipping point of a breakdown at the fag end of the shift. But this is when the empathetic nature of her persona takes over!
In a moving scene, you see Floria wrapping a scarf around the neck of an elderly patient suffering from late stages of cancer, who happened to pass away. This was her way of showing empathy for a character whom she was unable to attend in time given that she was the last one on her list. In another scene, you see her apologizing to the patient whose watch she had thrown out of the window, only for the response to be more empathetic than ever. There was also a case of another patient being told to stop smoking cigarettes, showing a bout of empathy towards Floria by returning the expensive watch that she had snitched from the ground level (the same watch that was thrown out by Floria). And lastly, you see Floria presenting a chocolate to Amelie who had also been on her toes with her through the night, a quiet little gesture of empathy despite being warned by her superior that Amelie may get used to it. For Floria, it is empathy that keeps her alive, using it as a shield to ward off the negativity she has had to endure in her daily life at the hospital.
In a sharp contrast to the tone of a kinetic thriller at the start, the ending is far more empathetic in nature. It quietly springs up in the life of Floria even as she is on her way home wherein you see her quietly resting her head on the shoulder of the same elderly patient who had passed away, and for whom Floria had tied a scarf around her neck. It was a quiet moment wherein Floria gets the ‘invisible’ empathy that she has longed all night in what is one of her daily routines – of absorbing the empathetic energy from the souls who have passed away. Floria may have witnessed so many deaths daily that made have immuned her, but she chooses to keep her empathetic side alive in spirit, in what has got to be one of the many beautiful endings that I have witnessed this year!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues have a streak of urgency tagged to them that goes hand-in-hand with the chaotic environment that the drama is thriving in. In the same breath, the use of silence and the rawness of the surroundings in its sound design, just adds to the ambience of the drama. The cinematography has got to be one of the finest of the year with so many tracking shots of narrow hospital corridors that creates a haunting atmosphere, even while keeping the camera in close proximity to the protagonist and following her around, thereby accounting for all her emotions and vulnerability.
The editing pattern is accounts for another technical marvel here, given how there aren’t any cheat cuts or jump cuts that would disrupt the flow of the drama. This was important given how the core nature of the drama remained its kinetic energy, wherein any disruption would have been fatal for the overall impact. Director Petra Volpe does a tremendous job in creating an urgent atmosphere by acknowledging the pressures of the setting of a hospital, while also accounting for palpable bouts of empathy through her protagonist (and a few characters around her). The balance that she maintains here while always using empathy as her go-to emotion even in periods of a crisis, is incredible to witness. In other words, the direction remains stellar!
Performances
<span;>The performances are incredible by the members of the cast, even as most of the drama revolves around the protagonist Floria. Margherita Schoch as Mrs Kuhn, Aline Beetschen as Evelyn, Ali Kandas as Nabil and Alireza Bayram as Jan Sharif – all have their moments to shine. Selma Adin as Amelie and Sonja Riesen are first rate as well. But the soul of the drama is Leonie Benesch (The Teachers’ Lounge, 5th September) who delivers one of the best performances of the year as Floria. She uses the minimalistic approach here, not being overtly expressive with her face while maintaining a calming and healing aura with her demeanor. There is urgency in her body language while never spilling the same on her face, something that she controls beautifully. And the emotional core that she accounts for through her act, is just brilliant to witness here. If ever there is an acting masterclass then it has to be this one!
Conclusion
Switzerland’s Official Submission to the Oscars of 2026 (and in the Top 15 of the Best International Feature Category), Late Shift is an undying spirit of compassion presented in an empathetic tribute to the unsung heroes of the medical fraternity that accounts for a brilliant watch. Highly Recommended!