Side Effects is director Steven Soderbergh’s latest, and reportedly last, film. It is a film that revisits a subject of previous interest to the director: drugs. But, while Traffic (2000) provides a satisfying overview of drug trafficking, unfortunately Side Effects is closer to Contagion (2011), a film which loses sight of a deeper agenda as it follows an ultimately unsatisfactory thriller genre path.
Side Effects introduces us to Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara), whose husband, Martin (Channing Tatum), is soon released from four years in prison having been convicted of insider trading. Despite their reunion, the chance to have sex again for the first time in years reveals that Emily is blank and unfulfilled. She is referred to a psychiatrist named Banks (Jude Law), who discovers that she has been under care before, previously with Dr. Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Banks thinks that a new drug called Ablixa may get results in treating Emily’s depression, however, as the title suggests, it has adverse consequences.
Side Effects touches upon important moral issues of great relevance to today’s treatment of mental illness, particularly as so many Americans are reportedly hooked on prescribed pills. With a close-up on Banks as he watches a TV chat show, in which the repercussions of prescribing Ablixa are being discussed, one expert panellist asks, “Where is the doctor in all of this? What is their responsibility?”; indeed, this is a moral question for Dr. Banks to consider. The ethical dilemmas of commercial advertising by pharmaceutical companies is another issue that the film touches on, as Emily stares at a billboard advertising Ablixa, and later remarks that it hasn’t made her happy like in the commercials.
Side Effects disappoints because it asks these moral questions about the treatment of depression and other mental illnesses in its first half, but unfortunately, in its second half, it not only fails to answer any of the questions, but it seems to completely forget having asked them in the first place. The twists that follow then, may take you by surprise, but once you leave the film you’re sure to reflect on them as cheap, and ultimately unsatisfactory given the ambitions the film seemed to have.
Although disappointing, Side Effects is not a bad film. Mara and Zeta-Jones are both on form, but it is Jude Law who delivers the finest performance as Banks becomes increasingly distraught and desperate, and indeed he is the one saving grace of the film’s second half. Thomas Newman’s score is also noteworthy for its subtlety and ominousness, but falls just short of tying the film together. Soderbergh, again shooting on digital, is extremely efficient in his camera work, and gives us images that are intimate and sinister. If this is to be Soderbergh’s last film it will be a shame, because one can’t help but feel as though he still had much to offer.
Side Effects introduces us to Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara), whose husband, Martin (Channing Tatum), is soon released from four years in prison having been convicted of insider trading. Despite their reunion, the chance to have sex again for the first time in years reveals that Emily is blank and unfulfilled. She is referred to a psychiatrist named Banks (Jude Law), who discovers that she has been under care before, previously with Dr. Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Banks thinks that a new drug called Ablixa may get results in treating Emily’s depression, however, as the title suggests, it has adverse consequences.
Side Effects touches upon important moral issues of great relevance to today’s treatment of mental illness, particularly as so many Americans are reportedly hooked on prescribed pills. With a close-up on Banks as he watches a TV chat show, in which the repercussions of prescribing Ablixa are being discussed, one expert panellist asks, “Where is the doctor in all of this? What is their responsibility?”; indeed, this is a moral question for Dr. Banks to consider. The ethical dilemmas of commercial advertising by pharmaceutical companies is another issue that the film touches on, as Emily stares at a billboard advertising Ablixa, and later remarks that it hasn’t made her happy like in the commercials.
Side Effects disappoints because it asks these moral questions about the treatment of depression and other mental illnesses in its first half, but unfortunately, in its second half, it not only fails to answer any of the questions, but it seems to completely forget having asked them in the first place. The twists that follow then, may take you by surprise, but once you leave the film you’re sure to reflect on them as cheap, and ultimately unsatisfactory given the ambitions the film seemed to have.
Although disappointing, Side Effects is not a bad film. Mara and Zeta-Jones are both on form, but it is Jude Law who delivers the finest performance as Banks becomes increasingly distraught and desperate, and indeed he is the one saving grace of the film’s second half. Thomas Newman’s score is also noteworthy for its subtlety and ominousness, but falls just short of tying the film together. Soderbergh, again shooting on digital, is extremely efficient in his camera work, and gives us images that are intimate and sinister. If this is to be Soderbergh’s last film it will be a shame, because one can’t help but feel as though he still had much to offer.