Chronic 2016

David’s life unfolds through a quiet, meticulous routine as a nurse, where small acts of care define his days. The story opens with him waiting outside a house, tracing the movements of a young woman who leaves and drives away, a moment that hints at a fixation that will echo throughout the tale. He later spends time with the photos of Nadia Wilson on Facebook, the person he’s been following, setting the stage for a complicated web of connection and secrecy.

As his work begins, he tends to his first patient, Sarah, who is dying of AIDS. In a calm, compassionate manner, he bathes and dresses her, handles her daily needs, and shields her from interruptions so she can rest. He prepares meals, supports visiting family, and creates a sense of dignity in a difficult end of life. When Sarah passes away, he returns to her bedroom to clean and dress her one last time, an intimate gesture that underscores his devotion. He attends her funeral, where her niece asks to speak with him about her aunt, but he declines. His life then shifts to a different social scene: in a bar, he engages in conversation with a recently engaged young woman, sharing that he was married for 21 years and that his wife, Sarah, died of AIDS.

David is reassigned to an elderly stroke victim, an architect named John. John develops a fondness for David, even allowing him to let John watch pornographic films on his laptop. To connect with his patient, David buys architecture books and, as a birthday gift, presents John with a picture of a house that John himself had designed. This budding bond, however, becomes the target of concern when a sexual harassment suit surfaces: John’s family accuses the agency after John experiences an erection while bathing and the porn viewing. David is fired by his boss, Robert, who cites the suit as grounds. David denies the accusation but admits that his attachment to John led him to work extra shifts. A last visit to John is thwarted when John’s daughter sends David away.

As the layers of David’s past begin to unfold, it’s revealed that he had a young son who died from a terminal illness. The girl he has been following—Nadia—is not a stranger but his own daughter, now studying medicine in college. This revelation reframes earlier moments, including his quiet attention to Nadia in conversations and glimpses of his past hidden behind professional distance. He eventually reconnects with his daughter and his ex-wife, who has remarried but is now divorced after four years.

A friend and former boss, Isaac, helps David find new work with Martha, a woman facing cancer and chemotherapy. Martha hires him openly, acknowledging the harassment suit but trusting his care. As Martha’s illness advances, David assists with the increasingly painful realities of treatment. She lies to her daughter, claiming her cancer is in remission, and asks David if he would help her die. He refuses, but the situation spirals when he later returns to her home and administers an injection that ends Martha’s life, reporting to Isaac afterward that she died of cardiac arrest.

David’s next assignment places him with Greg, a 16-year-old boy confined to a wheelchair. The arrangement lasts a week while Greg’s regular caregiver is away. In conversations with Nadia, David touches on Greg’s condition and the boy’s behavior, and he accompanies Greg to the park, where the teenager vents his anger and swears at him. During an outdoor run, David continues his own fitness routine and, in a final, fateful moment, is struck by a car. He glances toward the oncoming traffic before the impact, and the film ends with the sense that his life, like so many others he cared for, passes in an instant.