Director Steven Soderbergh has promised that following Side Effects he will enter semi-retirement, although his reasons for retiring at the age of fifty have been pretty vague. The stylish helmsman has really pushed the boundaries of conventional cinema over the last few years, attempting to produce films from very different genres.
The last project was the hugely successful and extremely enjoyable Magic Mike, a typical story of a male stripper who wants to make something of his life, which worked due to its cast, particularly Channing Tatum. As well as that, there was the experimental Haywire and the frightening Contagion, both appreciated in their own right, largely due to the involvement of Gina Carano, real-life mixed martial arts fighter.
Soderbergh has always had a particular feel and look to his films, he can easily be described as an auteur. Long protracted silences, realistic fight sequences, an obsession with genre, colour tainted screens are never out of place in a Soderbergh production. It is perhaps because of the above that Side Effects is so fitting as his last film.
Almost echoing the sentiments of the wonderful Contagion, Side Effects tells the story of Emily (Rooney Mara), a young married woman with severe depression and anxiety difficulties. When we are first introduced to her, she is collecting her husband Martin from prison and we are led to assume that what seems like a hiccup in their relationship will soon be overcome. However, Emily deteriorates rapidly, crashes her own car into a wall and soon begins visiting a psychiatrist regularly.
Her doctor, Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), prescribes various tablets to his patient over the course of the film, some of which work, but with extreme side effects. Martin discovers her in the kitchen on various occasions cooking while sleepwalking. He appeals to Banks to change her medication, but Emily insists the pills are working. The sleepwalking continues, with detrimental effects to her husband and everyone else involved.
Side Effects is a film that benefits from entering the cinema devoid of too much information. Hitchcockian in style, the film twists and turns over the course of the narrative, often leaving you clueless over who to trust, who to believe and how much Banks is to blame for the events that occur. Rooney Mara is, of course, spectacular. The actress is completely incapable of putting in a bad performance as is Channing Tatum, who has proved his acting worth with his last few appearances. Even Jude Law, who normally can come across as quite sleazy, is entirely believable as the psychiatrist.
What is most frightening about the film, and perhaps something that Soderbergh hinted at with Contagion, is the complete disregard for human life. Banks throws pills at his patients, including his own wife, as a solution to the many woes they are suffering. The one major problem with Side Effects is the fact that about twenty minutes from the end, you will know exactly what the conclusion will be but this is not the fault of the film; an original thriller is almost impossible to produce.
Although a thriller in essence, Side Effects perhaps says more about the current culture surrounding mental health and the solutions taken to “help” patients.
