Movies - Late Shift : A Visceral Portrait of Modern-Day Heroism in a Crumbling System

By Mulder, 28 june 2025

In Late Shift written and directed by Petra Volpe, the audience is not merely invited to observe but rather compelled to endure — breath by breath — the excruciating, chaotic, and deeply humane experience of working in a collapsing healthcare system. Anchored by a performance of rare intensity from Leonie Benesch, the film explores the world of Floria, a nurse whose dedication is constantly tested within the overwhelming reality of a hospital ward plagued by underfunding, staff shortages, and the invisible yet oppressive weight of institutional failure. Unlike dramatizations that rely on exaggeration, Late Shift extracts its tension from the raw truth, reflecting not only the state of Swiss healthcare but the shared, global crisis afflicting modern medicine. The result is a gripping, nearly claustrophobic depiction of a night shift that feels like a battlefront, executed with such realism and urgency that viewers will leave the cinema shaken yet enlightened.

The strength of Late Shift lies in its authenticity — something Petra Volpe pursued with uncompromising dedication. The genesis of the film can be traced to Petra Volpe’s long-standing concern for the conditions facing healthcare workers, a concern rooted in her personal life. Having lived with a nurse, Petra Volpe bore witness to the emotional toll and the moral weight carried by these unsung heroes. The project gained a deeper layer of authenticity through her encounter with Madeline Calvelage’s book, Unser Beruf ist nicht das Problem. Es sind die Umstände, a night shift account so compelling that it became the emotional and structural spine of the screenplay. The screenplay became a collaborative effort, with Madeline Calvelage consulting throughout the process, offering invaluable insight into the reality behind the scrubs. In addition, Nadja Habicht, a healthcare specialist, accompanied the production from inception through post-production, guiding every creative decision to ensure that not a heartbeat of realism was lost.

At the center of this maelstrom is Leonie Benesch, whose transformation into Floria is nothing short of revelatory. Known for her work in Babylon Berlin, The Crown, and the acclaimed La Salle des profs, Leonie Benesch vanishes entirely into the role. She underwent immersive training at the Liestal Cantonal Hospital, rehearsing procedures alongside real nurses, mastering the gestures, rhythms, and silences of caregiving until they became second nature. This physical preparation manifests on screen with startling precision — every interaction with a patient, every glance across a cluttered hallway pulses with muscle memory and fatigue. Her presence is natural and magnetic, evoking empathy without sentimentality. It's a performance built not on dialogue but on immersion, making Leonie Benesch the perfect vessel through which the audience experiences both the triumphs and the breakdowns of frontline caregiving.

The film’s relentless pacing is elevated by the kinetic, yet never intrusive, cinematography of Judith Kaufmann, whose previous collaborations with Petra Volpe in Traumland and Les Conquérantes demonstrated her unmatched ability to blend aesthetic with emotional urgency. Here, the camera becomes almost a character in itself — hovering close to Floria’s shoulder, tracking her through labyrinthine corridors, capturing the visceral exhaustion etched onto her face. Judith Kaufmann avoids the polished glow often seen in medical dramas; instead, she opts for a tactile realism, letting fluorescent lights flicker, letting sterile walls feel cold. Every frame breathes the same fatigue and pressure as its protagonist. The editing by Hansjörg Weissbrich intensifies this effect — cuts are tight, scenes bleed into each other with no reprieve, just as shifts do in the real world. The music, composed by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, is subtle, emotional, but never manipulative. It swells not to instruct emotion but to echo what we already feel, making the invisible toll of the work painfully audible.

Beyond its stylistic achievements, Late Shift resonates on a political and sociological level. The film isn’t just art — it’s a call to consciousness. The numbers are staggering: Switzerland, often praised for its healthcare system, faces a shortage of 40,000 nurses by 2040. As aging populations rise and younger generations steer away from the profession due to burnout and low compensation, the strain on existing personnel multiplies. Globally, the situation is no better, with the World Health Organization warning of a 13-million-nurse deficit by 2030. As the press notes point out, this deficit has led to a kind of healthcare neocolonialism — wealthy nations importing experienced nurses from poorer countries without reciprocal investment. These dynamics are not background statistics in Late Shift — they are its DNA. Every frame is built around what these crises look like at the human level: in sweat, in sleeplessness, in grief, and in those fleeting, miraculous moments of tenderness between a caregiver and a patient.

Casting for supporting roles was approached with the same commitment to realism. Petra Volpe deliberately cast actors with limited mainstream exposure, including theater performers and even real healthcare professionals, ensuring that each face on screen carries the wear and wisdom of lived experience. Performers such as Sonja Riesen, Alireza Bayram, Selma Jamal Aldin, and Urs Bihler contribute to the film’s sense of textured, multicultural realism. In portraying a world where life and death collide every minute, Late Shift underscores a truth often ignored — that illness, vulnerability, and caregiving are universal experiences that transcend class, culture, and language.

Shot primarily in an abandoned hospital, which had to be transformed with obsessive attention to detail, the film blurs the line between fiction and documentary. Set design and lighting contribute to a space that feels inhabited, not staged — a place where routine meets emergency, where dignity grapples with despair. The production team, led by Reto Schaerli and Lukas Hobi of Zodiac Pictures alongside Bastie Griese, ensured that each element — from costume to makeup to patient interaction — remained true to the real world that inspired the story. This is not a sanitized vision of healthcare. There is no romanticism in watching Floria forced to triage dignity against survival — only respect, and at times, horror at how normalized suffering can become.

Late Shift is not only a remarkable film — it is an emotional gut-punch, a cinematic act of advocacy. Petra Volpe has crafted a work that forces us to confront what we too often ignore: the invisible labor, the broken systems, and the psychological toll of those who care for us when we are at our weakest. In doing so, she offers not just a film, but a tribute, one that honors the countless real-life Floria’s who navigate institutional chaos with grace, rage, and boundless humanity. Whether watched as a gripping thriller, a social commentary, or a love letter to the nursing profession, Late Shift is, above all, a demand to see and respect the people who stand — always — on the front line.

Synopsis :
Floria is a dedicated nurse who faces the relentless pace of an understaffed hospital ward. Despite the lack of resources, she tries to bring humanity and warmth to each of her patients. But as the hours pass, the demands become more and more pressing, and despite her professionalism, the situation begins to spiral out of control...

Late Shift
Written and directed by Petra Volpe
Produced by Reto Schaerli, Lukas Hobi
Starring Leonie Benesch, Sonja Riesen, Alireza Bayram, Selma Jamal Aldin, Urs Bihler, Margherita Schoch, Albana Agaj, Ridvan Murati, Urbain Guiguemdé, Elisabeth Rolli, Doris Schefer, Jürg Plüss, Jeremia Chung, Eva Fredholm, Andreas Beutler, Lale Yavas, Dominique Lendi
Music by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Cinematograph : Judith Kaufmann
Edited by Hansjörg Weissbrich
Production companies : Zodiac Pictures, Bastie Griese
Distributed by Wild Bunch Distribution (France)
Release date : August 27, 2025 (France)
Running time : 92 minutes