If Michael Haneke and Lars Von Trier were ever to collaborate on a film, I have a feeling it would turn out similar to this. An extremely disturbing character study of a lonely night nurse who is so petrified of people that she only feels truly alive when she assists her terminally ill patients into the afterlife via injection as their own personal “angel of death.” The lead actress, Bien de Moor, gives a frighteningly ego-less and fully committed performance that has to be one of the most thankless and terrible characters ever depicted on screen (she gives Nurse Ratched a run for her money.) The clinical cinematography and the harsh lighting enhanced the depraved nature of the character’s inner thoughts and the sound design cranked up the tension of this very unlikely serial killer as she patrolled the halls looking for her next victim. This character is so afraid of contact with human beings that she invents a daughter and other relationships so as to keep people from questioning her obvious loneliness, while at the same time craves an erotic and loving connection with her neighbor (who is also a lonely soul that is obsessed with her as well.) The director’s obsession with the link between sex and death as well as depravity and order were repeatedly explored through escalating images of sexual violence that culminated in a final denouement that left so many questions unanswered, while still leaving the audience unsettled by the ultimate evils of human nature. The film moved at a breakneck speed but I felt like the overly brisk pace (the film was only 81 minutes long) betrayed the film’s macabre story – if the film had been given some more room to breathe then the disturbing images would have been allowed more time to resonate. As it is now it feels more like a really long short film rather than a full length feature film. But that is a minor complaint for a movie that ultimately lived up to my expectations and really did create a uniquely disturbing character unlike any that I’ve ever seen before.