R, 106 min.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Scott Z. Burns
Starring: Jude Law, Rooney
Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Vinessa Shaw, Ann Dowd, Michael
Nathanson, Peter Friedman, Laila Robins, David Constabile, Mamie Gummer
Watching Steven Soderbergh’s
“Side Effects”, a thriller about the institution of drugs for the treatment of
psychological conditions, I wondered at first what drew the director to this
subject for one of his final films before his planned retirement. By the
halfway point, I knew. As is often the case with Soderbergh, he examines his
subject from an angle that doesn’t scream out what it’s really about.
On the surface this is just
a thriller about a psychiatrist who makes a few mistakes with a patient because
he wants her to get better. But “Side Effects” is a cunning thriller that
doesn’t let on to its twists until the audience has already formed ideas about
where it is going. Jude Law and Rooney Mara are engaging in their roles as doctor
and patient. That’s how the plot gets its hooks in, then you find your self
squirming for the position in which Law’s doctor has placed himself, and you
don’t know whether he deserves it or not.
The movie could’ve been
better had it invested more in the doctor’s personal life. When everything
starts going south for him professionally, his wife is a little too eager to
jump ship. The filmmakers either needed to establish better that the couple
were already having troubles before this event, or they needed to give the wife
stronger incentive to question her husband. Yes, she has plenty strong
incentive, but to suddenly take the word of others against that of the man you
love and know better then they… I just didn’t buy her reaction to his
situation.
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1 comment:
The middle third of the film may be a bit difficult to follow at times, but the effort pays off massively. Nice review Andrew.
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