"The film is a declaration of love for the nursing profession"
BERLINALE 2025: We talked to the Swiss-Italian filmmaker about the inspiration and intention behind her latest feature, as well as her research and writing process.
Swiss director Petra Volpe presents her newest feature film at this year's Berlinale in the Berlinale Special section. In Late Shift, she follows a nurse through her demanding shift. We spoke to the director about the development of the script, her research and her admiration for the work of the nursing staff.
Cineuropa: Did the Covid pandemic provide a particular impetus to make this film?
Petra Volpe: No, the topic was already on my mind beforehand, Covid just made it even more acute. I was in New York during the pandemic. So many people died, the hospitals were overcrowded. You could see how the nursing staff came to its limits, and never properly recovered. I was looking for an approach to the topic and read the book by the young German nurse Madeline Calvelage, who describes her everyday life at work. The book felt like a thriller to me. This feeling of tension, excitement and rhythm was decisive for the form of the film. I got in touch with Madeline and she advised me on the script. We worked out the patient stories together. The patient stories were also inspired by my own environment. I conducted a lot of interviews with nursing staff. I worked in a hospital myself. Through this extensive research, with the help of two other nurses and a doctor, the script slowly emerged.
How was your own experience in hospital?
I was impressed by the pressure under which the women work. Even the normal shift is demanding, both technically and personally. And that's every day. We take this so much for granted. I was incredibly touched by the professionalism and humanity of the staff. The profession is incredibly complex and so important in our society, yet it receives too little recognition. The film is a declaration of love for the profession.
Was it difficult to get access?
The women were very happy to talk about their profession. It was important to show not only how exhausting it is, but also the beautiful aspects. I had great, open conversations, but it also became clear how acute the problem is, how even experienced care professionals are suffering under this pressure. They no longer enjoy their job – not because they feel they earn too little, but because they feel they can no longer really help. They believe they can't do their job properly. They go home with the worry that they may have forgotten something, because the pressure is massive and some of the wards are so understaffed.
How did the collaboration with Leonie Benesch, who plays the main role, come about?
I had her in mind early on, even when I was writing. When I saw her during the casting, which the first time was via Zoom, and she said the first sentence as Floria, it was immediately clear to me that it was her.
How did she prepare for the role?
We wanted to make a very physical film right from the start. A film that really gets to you, where you get palpitations when you watch it in the cinema. Of course, we had to work very carefully to achieve this. Of course, Leonie's preparation was very important. She was in hospital herself and observed the staff. She also had a coach, an intensive care nurse with 25 years of experience. Leonie practiced a lot. She also took medical equipment home with her and practiced until she could do it. We also saw the mise en scène as a dance – for me, these nurses are like high-performance athletes. Their moves resemble a dance, we conceived them like a choreography. The white floor of the hospital looked to me like an artificial ice rink on which the athletes performed.
How did you develop your approach to the editing?
We wrote an escalation dramaturgy right from the start. There were various challenges. We tell the story of an 8-hour day in 90 minutes. The aim was to create the feeling that you are running along with the protagonist for a whole day. It was important to us that there was also room for warm, emotional moments in all this stress and escalation. We worked a lot on this balance with the editor Hansjörg Weißbrich.
Where did you shoot?
In a small old hospital in Zurich. We used one floor for production and the other for filming by setting up two wards. We had to put together all the equipment, from the machines and the beds to the individual boxes of medication, and many hospitals that are still active helped with this.
Read the original article here.