Hippocrates

Darkly comic, but politically gauche, medic-cum-director Thomas Lilti's second feature provides a stark insight into the demands made of junior doctors in a health system hamstrung by staff shortages and antiquated apparatus. Drawing on his own experiences, Lilti pitches intern Vincent Lacoste into a Parisian ward run by his own father (Jacques Gamblin). But the late-night failure to perform an electrocardiogram on a cirrhosis patient results in a cover-up that sets the junior at odds with an experienced Algerian doctor (Reda Kateb) who is forced to work on the lowest rung because of his nationality. A further crisis arises when the Algerian faces off with his superior over his stubbornly compassionate care of a dying octogenarian. These melodramatic plot strands give the picture some structure, but Lilti seems more intent on exposing the long hours and appalling living conditions endured by twentysomethings who party hard after being left to make tough calls by administrators more concerned with bottom lines than flatlines. Nicolas Gaurin's restless camerawork ably conveys the bustling hospital ambience, while Lacoste's brattish vulnerability is admirably complemented by Kateb's truculent integrity.