Side Effects (2013)
Certified: 16
Duration: 106 minutes
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Vinessa Shaw, Ann Dowd, Polly Draper, David Costabile, Mamie Gummer
KRS release
Purported to be Steven Soderbergh’s last cinematic direction, Side Effects is a medical thriller but, most of all, it’s a film about restraint, control and precision.
Side Effects has all the trappings of a neo-noir film
The theme of pharmaceutical companies, ethics and the ever-increasing mass of medical zombies that society is grinding out, adds more texture to the film.
Side Effects kicks off with a look at a domestic scene that is all gruesome and violent. It then turns the clock back three months to let us see the events that lead up to the opening scene.
Business executive Martin (Channing Tatum) has just spent four years in prison after being embroiled in insider trading.
On his release, he reunites with his wife Emily (Rooney Mara) but things are not so simple.
She is suffering from a depression and he has trouble finding work and adjusting to domestic life. So sometimes he resorts to medicinal help. At one point Emily tries to do herself harm and that is when the couple seek psychiatric help.
Dr Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) prescribes her a variety of drugs in order to calm her down. As a consequence, Emily suffers from a number of side effects such as increased libido and sleepwalking.
That is when the film changes perception and starts to focus on Banks as it poses the question: who is responsible if a patient who is taking a particular drug ends up doing something really bad? Is the psychiatrist or the patient responsible?
Banks wants to clear his name and meets up with Dr Victoria Siebel (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who had been Emily’s therapist.
Side Effects has all the trappings of a neo-noir film. Soderbergh uses the camera in such a way as to keep his audience at arm’s length from his characters.
He uses this technique in many of his movies and here, like in Contagion, provides the audience with an almost Peeping Tom view. This technique also heightens the feeling of helplessness on behalf of the viewer, especially when events start to unfurl rapidly.
Law is excellent as he carries the weight of the film for most of its running time. He delivers a mature interpretation that is very convincing. Mara also stands out while Tatum needed more screen time.
Zeta-Jones, another Soderbergh regular, is left a bit in the shade by the rest of the cast. But the technique used and the characters combine well to keep the tension constant and high.
If this is truly Soderbegh’s last cinematic effort, I hope he will embark on some other form of creative venture. The director, who has dabbled in every film genre and delivered some really unique masterpieces such as Erin Brockovich and Traffic, will be leaving a gaping hole in the silver screen.