Hippocrates

Set in contemporary times, the story follows medical interns through late-night shifts in a busy hospital. The tempo is brisk and there is a constant tension between urgency and caution. The events reflect modern medical practice, technology limits, and legal considerations surrounding end-of-life care.

The events unfold in a French teaching hospital, where interns navigate the demanding realities of patient care, medical ethics, and institutional pressures. The hospital setting highlights the social and administrative constraints that shape decisions made at the bedside. It serves as a pressure cooker where life-and-death choices unfold during long night shifts.

⚖️ Ethics

The narrative centers on tough ethical choices, from handling a patient’s pain to deciding about end-of-life care under Leonetti law. The interns wrestle with honesty, accountability, and the line between hope and harm. Decisions made under pressure test personal integrity and professional duty. The film casts ethics as a living, often uncomfortable, part of daily medical practice.

💉 Care under pressure

The hospital's systemic strain and imperfect tools force imperfect decisions, exposing how technology, time, and policy shape patient outcomes. Missteps become teachable moments that threaten careers and future qualifications. The interns learn that compassion must contend with risk, legality, and institutional scrutiny. The setting reveals how care quality hinges on teamwork, communication, and restraint as much as skill.

🤝 Friendship

Benjamin and Abdel's alliance evolves from camaraderie to a rueful maturity as they confront consequences together. Their bond tests cultural differences, personal loyalties, and professional ambition. The dynamic shows how mentorship and mutual support can sustain clinicians through moral distress. Ultimately, reconciliation and renewed purpose emerge from shared responsibility for their patients.