Everything has side effects.
For Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), her perfect life with stockbroker husband Martin (Channing Tatum, 21 Jump Street) comes at a cost: his freedom, and her stability. Four years after Martin is released from jail after being convicted of insider training, their reunion has repercussions; re-adjusting to having him back in her life, Emily takes the medicated route to happiness under the guidance of her psychiatrist (Jude Law, Anna Karenina).
Director Steven Soderbergh’s 25-year career has traversed the rollercoaster ride that is the film industry, leaving him restless for a new challenge. His hits – indie (Sex, Lies and Videotape), popular (Ocean’s Eleven) and award-winners (Traffic) among them – have ensured his acclaim, but after making four films in 18 months (Contagion, Haywire, Magic Mike and now Side Effects) Soderbergh has publically renounced the filmmaking game.
On and off screen, these undesired consequences – of Emily’s panicked pill popping, and Soderbergh’s impending retirement – complicate this chilling thriller. The protagonist proves burdened by expectation, with solace only found in prescriptions, just as the helmer’s jaded response to his career can only be arrested by drastic means. Yet both may be guilty of a bait and switch, with their motives far from firm. Does an act of violence that shapes the film’s narrative stem from Emily’s mood-altered malaise? Will Soderbergh really quit directing? Or, in both cases, is there something more at work?
That Side Effects provokes such questions is a testament to its economical effectiveness, the manipulative maze of Scott Z. Burns’ (The Informant!) screenplay immersing viewers in a tightly-wound amalgam of mysteries. From the deliberate panning shots of reflective surfaces and zooms through confined spaces, to the pervading unease of Thomas Newman’s (Skyfall) score, the feature is constant in its conjuring of questions, its duplicitous combination of psychology and pharmacology purposefully unsettling.
Also taking on cinematography and editing duties, Soderbergh’s distant, detached sheen further flavours the ever-present anxiety, admirably inducing a mood and tone more consistent with the horror genre. The film’s early alarmist attitude also supports its sinister leanings, yet subversion emerges when the feature journeys into less ephemeral, more visceral territory.
Within the film, the enigmatic Mara remains the audience’s inscrutable cypher; within the broader production, the director’s choices evoke ambiguity and intensity. The side effects of their efforts are interest and intrigue in another solid offering; unfettered appreciation for the helmer’s continued ability to expose the cost of modern living; and dismay at the thought that this might just be Soderbergh’s last feature.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Side Effects
Director: Steven Soderbergh
USA, 2013, 106 min
Now showing in cinemas
Distributor: Roadshow
Rated MA
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