Late Shift (Heldin) Film Review: A Tense Ride

A late shift on a hospital ward turns into chaos when a nurse is left to treat more patients than she can manage and things begin to spiral out of control.

Late Shift showcases the demanding real life scenarios Swiss medical staff have to face in their day to day lives in a tense, almost documentary style feature. 

The pacing of Late Shift is what stands out above everything else. It’s tight and tense, with no room to breathe. For a film with a subject matter like this, it’s a necessity to have the pacing nailed perfectly, and Late Shift does it magnificently. Editor Hansjörg Weißbrich is no stranger to working on a film which relies on editing that doesn’t feel prolonged or choppy. His work on Oscar nominated movie September 5 and BAFTA nominated She Said also gives them this distinct tense style; both films wouldn’t feel as accomplished without Weißbrich’s work in the editing department. Yes, the subject matter is what’s the most important here, but you also need to keep the audience engaged through dramas which otherwise may feel dragged out. 

Leonie Benesch’s performance makes Last Shift so stimulating. There’s a vibrancy in her can-do attitude as Floria, who cares for each and every one of her patients like her own life depends on it. Her job as a nurse clearly matters to her. Even when we first meet her as she’s dressing for her shift, excited to wear her brand new shoes (which later become completely filthy due to a complication with a patient), it’s apparent she’s a real compassionate human. When she finds out there are only two other staff members on shift with her, she doesn’t sulk or moan; she gets on with it and gets right to work. 

It’s not exactly clear where Late Shift is set until a supercilious patient (Jürg Plüss) jokes about the lengthy time it took for his pain killers to arrive, asking Floria if she had to travel all the way to Basel to acquire his medicine. In Switzerland currently, a multitude of operations are ongoing to get medical staff back to work in hospitals by improving the conditions in which they work (mainly focusing on better shift patterns with less exhaustive hours). Late Shift isn’t exactly propaganda to get you to want to be a nurse. But if thousands more are able to see the film and band together, the environment in hospitals could be changed for the better to give patients the care they need and for the staff to have less pressure on them at work. 

Whilst Late Shift isn’t necessarily anything new in film, it’s a key reminder that nurses are just people too. They sometimes have to put their own well-being to one side to prioritise their patients due to staffing issues. Late Shift isn’t some crazy medical drama either, like fan favourite Grey’s Anatomy. There are no love triangles or unrealistic pharmaceutical affairs. It’s just Floria, a normal woman, treating patients with potential cancers and other lifelong illnesses.

Late Shift (Heldin) premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 17, 2025. Read our Berlin Film Festival reviews and our list of 20 films to watch at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival!