Netflix’s French-language sort-of thriller Nothing to Lose makes light of a serious subject by having its ending reach levels of distracting ridiculousness. While a strident critique of paediatric oncology is nestled at the well-intentioned movie’s core, it’s too broad a melodrama and too daft a thriller for it to really resonate beyond the level of a tokenistic, emotionally manipulative PSA, a status exemplified by its dopey climax.
Plot-wise, single mother Jada attempts to save the life of her 10-year-old son Noa following a leukemia diagnosis by taking an entire pediatric oncology ward hostage. Her point is that underfunding and disinterest have created abhorrent wait times that are costing the lives of innocent children, and the only way to speed the process along is by taking the law into her own hands to secure a bone marrow transplant posthaste. It’s a worthwhile goal, but the way everyone from the patients to the hospital staff to the authorities bends over backwards to agree with Jada by the end gives the whole thing a touch of unreality that doesn’t help to sell the message.
Public Scrutiny
Jada’s actions make the news, which ends up being an important plot point as the movie nears its end. Given that Noa’s birth involved embryo implantation, meaning that he isn’t biologically related to Jada or her husband, Paul, he also has a genetic sibling out there in the world. Despite the donors wishing to remain anonymous, the family of another recipient from the same batch of embryos becomes aware of Jada’s plight.
The woman, Agnes, is sympathetic to Jada’s cause and has her son, Adrien, tested to see if he’s a match for a marrow transplant. Her husband is reluctant, since Adrien doesn’t yet know that he isn’t biologically related to his parents, but Agnes is adamant that he should be allowed to make the decision to potentially save another child’s life himself.
For this reason, Agnes reaches out to Dr. Bonfanti with the results, providing Jada with a potential lifeline.
The Great Escape
While all this has been going on, the situation in the hospital has worsened. Jada’s tussle with a police officer resulted in shots being fired, and with her having been reclassified as an active threat, SWAT is on its way inside. To make matters worse, Noa’s condition is rapidly worsening, and he needs to receive the transplant ASAP.
After hearing about the donor match, Jada realises that she needs to get out of the hospital to make contact with Agnes, and the entire hospital staff helps her do it, spiriting her away under the noses of the authorities. This doesn’t ring entirely true to me and removes any potential pushback from within the system. Are we seriously expected to believe that nobody there thought that maybe Jada was going about things the wrong way?
All In Agreement
Nothing to Lose takes a similar approach when Jada and Paul get to Agnes and her husband. While there’s something resembling a tense confrontation, Agnes’s support of Jada’s cause means that she pushes Adrien to make his own decision, and of course, he decides to save Noa. It’s a nice moment, but it’s just a little bit too easy.
Similarly, when Jada takes Agnes and Adrien back to the hospital, the waiting SWAT team all part like the Red Sea to let Jada through so that Noa can be saved. I’d love to believe that this is how people would behave when confronted with such a genuinely human crisis, but we all know that it isn’t. Jada would have been clubbed and arrested the second she exited the elevator.
In this fantasy land, though, Noa survives through his mother’s bravery, his brother’s selflessness, and the ready-to-go medical expertise of the hospital staff. While there’d doubtlessly be a legal comeback for Jada’s actions, nothing we’ve seen suggests that anyone would care enough to prosecute her. And even her relationship with Paul, who becomes her accomplice, is implied to have been repaired by their shared hostage-taking experiences.
A happy ending can be a nice thing. But they’re generally better if you earn them.
