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      Paper Mask

      R 1990 1h 46m Mystery & Thriller List
      Reviews 60% 100+ Ratings Audience Score Londoner Matthew Harris (Paul McGann) feels he's destined for more in life than being a hospital porter. After a doctor who resembles him dies in a car accident, Harris takes it as an opportunity to improve his lot. Assuming the man's identity, Harris nabs a position in a Bristol emergency room. There, he embarks on a romance with nurse Christine Taylor (Amanda Donohoe). But before long his past -- and his lack of medical experience -- come back to haunt him. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member While it's often preposerous there is fun in the tension of watching someone completely out of their depth and it mostly succeeds in making us root for a homicidal antagonist not to get caught. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Excellent stuff. More people should know about this movie! Saw it on T.V. years ago, took me ages to find it online. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Mike M Apt that this - one of Film on Four's more commercially minded endeavours from the turn of the 90s - should return to circulation at a moment when the Tories find themselves in power again, the NHS has been left in a state of upheaval, and social mobility has fallen to its lowest rate for some time... Though it lacks the refined clinical chilliness of those medical thrillers either adapted from or inspired by Michael Crichton ("Coma", "Malice", "Extreme Measures"), in its blocky, made-for-television way, it gets the abject terror of A&E, a place of cries and screams, the thinnest of curtains separating life from death, where even fully legit professionals are faced with making critical decisions on behalf of individuals whose existence (or, indeed, limbs) are hanging by a thread. McGann, in what remains really his only substantial post-"Withnail" role, grows sweatier by the half-hour, as though the glue holding his face on (and his assumed life together) was rapidly melting away. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/18/11 Full Review Audience Member Intriguing black comedy(?) about a hospital orderly who manages to successfully impersonate a doctor. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member About time that this got a DVD release in Feb 2011 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member PAPER MASK (1981) Directed by Christopher Morahan. Written by Dr John Collee (based on his book). Odd, effective & extremely suspenseful thriller, based on a true story about a psychopathic hospital orderly who assumes the identity of a dead young doctor & starts practicing medicine, & becomes a human time bomb in the British public hospital system. A fascinating study of a disturbed personality who will do anything to protect his secret, together with a biting indictment on the 'boys club'/closed shop mentality present amongst doctors who rally around to cover the imposter's mistakes in the misguided belief that they are protecting one of 'their own'. A superior, highly intelligent & credible script & top-notch performances put this among one of the best British offerings of the 90's. *****5 out of 5 stars***** Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Paper Mask

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Londoner Matthew Harris (Paul McGann) feels he's destined for more in life than being a hospital porter. After a doctor who resembles him dies in a car accident, Harris takes it as an opportunity to improve his lot. Assuming the man's identity, Harris nabs a position in a Bristol emergency room. There, he embarks on a romance with nurse Christine Taylor (Amanda Donohoe). But before long his past -- and his lack of medical experience -- come back to haunt him.
      Director
      Christopher Morahan
      Production Co
      Paper Mask, British Screen Productions, Granada Television, Channel Four Films
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Mystery & Thriller
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Dec 30, 2016
      Runtime
      1h 46m
      Sound Mix
      Surround