Side Effects, 2013.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
SYNOPSIS:
A woman suffering from depression has a number of disturbing side effects from a new prescription drug.
It will be hard to discuss this film as I really want to without giving away some major spoilers including some actually very good plot twists which I have to say were concealed very nicely by the trailers. That being said, after the reveals of the third act, whilst they were clever plot twists in that I never saw them coming, these brought the film in to the realm of utter cliche, with no new territory explored.
The story centers around Emily and Martin Taylor, played by Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum respectively. The latter is in prison for insider trading and is about to be released, which upon shortly after Emily tries to kill herself. In the hospital a psychiatrist comes to visit her, Dr. Jonathan Banks (played by Jude Law), and feels she is conscious enough of her actions to be released as long as she agrees to sessions with him a few times a week.
Prescribing Emily a number of prescriptions, all with varying undesired side effects, Dr. Banks visits with Emily’s former physician, Dr. Victoria Siebert, and discovers that Emily’s problems have been going on for some time and the problems are much deeper. Siebert also recommends a new drug, Ablixer, which he then prescribes to Emily to great results. Until the sleepwalking starts. And it is here that our twists and turns and shocks begin to emerge. At one stage I thought this was going to be an examination of mental health and our over reliance on prescription medications: have a headache, take a pill. Suffering from depression, take a pill. Everywhere we go we are confronted with prescription medication, a multi-billion dollar industry. However that didn’t emerge. I then thought it was going to be about the medical companies themselves and their peddling of these medications to us all for profit and never with the consumers health in mind and their attempts to conceal potentially damaging stories. However that didn’t materialise either. What did materialise was a very cliched story that we’ve all seen countless times before wrapped up in new clothing. A much missed opportunity to capitalise on something extremely relevant in today’s world.
Law and Mara are however particularly great in this, Mara has a great range of emotions to cover here which she does fantastically and Law is brilliant as usual in his role as the Doctor who has lost it all and is fighting back. Both were a joy to watch. Soderbergh himself indulges in a lot of unnecessary, fantasy like scenes with just didn’t strike me as serving any real purpose and certainly not hitting the note intended. The script is pretty solid and despite it is engaging throughout, it is merely the choice of direction the story takes which as a whole make it ‘just another’ thriller for me.
Side Effects is an interesting film with great performances, but it becomes very forgettable once each turn has brought you to a very well known destination.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Martin Deer
Originally published March 10, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
