“On the Front Line,” the hospital thriller whose heroine is a nurse
“On the Front Line,” which opens in French theaters on August 27, takes viewers on a journey through the night shift of a Swiss nurse. The race against time that unfolds is both gripping and revealing of a public service under pressure. Overall, the Swiss press was won over by this original hospital thriller.
At the very beginning of her shift, Floria (Leonie Benesch) puts two treats in her pocket. But she'll have many emergencies to deal with before she can give them to the children of the patient for whom they're intended. On the Front Line, which opens in French theaters on August 27, follows over the course of a single night "a nurse who, despite her professionalism, accumulates a backlog making it impossible to optimally monitor the patients in her department," summarizes Le Temps . Stéphane Gobbo, a critic for the Geneva daily, particularly appreciated the result.
Swiss filmmaker Petra Volpe, originally from the German-speaking canton of Aargau, immerses the viewer in the difficulties of her country's public hospital. “Developed like a veritable choreography, the film is tense, constantly in action, with, beyond its formal rigor, an undeniable documentary dimension allowing Petra Volpe to avoid the pitfall of a melodramatic approach seeking only emotion.”
In the Tribune de Genève, Pascal Gavillet agrees. And praises the director's "tour de force." Because we can imagine that we are only watching one of the many nights that the nurse must go through, while being fascinated by everything that happens there. The quality of the
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