In "Side Effects," Soderbergh continually falls back on a particular camera trick. He begins with a close-up on the face of a character or object, and slowly lets them fall in and out of focus. This technique is the film in a nutshell: you never know quite what you're looking at, what is real and what isn't, until the final frames. It's well worth the ride to find out. Midway through "Side Effects," the depressed Emily (Rooney Mara) notices a billboard in her subway station. The billboard depicts a euphoric young woman skipping around a field of dark green grass, against a sky of pastel blue. "Ablixa," it says, "Take back tomorrow." Naturally, a considerable amount of fine print. But she doesn't read it. She immediately visits her psychiatrist, Dr. Banks (Jude Law), and asks for a prescription.
At this point, the duo have already tried a bevy of other pills to cure Emily's depression. Emily is a 28 year old yuppie whose husband, Martin (Channing Tatum) was recently released from a four-year prison stint for white collar crime. The transition is hard for her. They can't have sex, they can't attend parties. She finds herself detached from life, drifting, as she says, 'through a fog.' Late one night she crashes her car into a parking garage wall. Dr. Banks meets her in the hospital and becomes determined to cure her. When she suggests Ablixa, he immediately writes her a prescription.
After a few days on Ablixa, Emily commits a murder.
What follows is a complex but not convoluted spiral into determining culpability for the crime. If she was on drugs, can she really be guilty? Is it Dr. Bank's fault for prescribing her the drug? Dr. Banks tells us that he practices medicine in America because here, visiting a psychiatrist means "you're getting better," rather than chronically ill. But does he have ulterior motives? And what about that large contract he has with a pharmaceutical company to push their drugs? Slowly, the the case unravels.
Rooney Mara puts on a show as Emily. She's asked to play a wide range of emotional states, sometimes in rapid succession, and is admirable in the role. It's easy to imagine a much lesser film if it weren't for Mara. Blake Lively was originally cast for the role - and as talented as she is, her expressions lack to strange innocence Mara so easily radiates.
Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones don't put on the performances of their careers, but they don't really have to. Law, who garners more focus as the film progresses, has a strong if perplexing evolution through the film. Zeta-Jones has a much smaller role as one of Emily's former psychiatrists.
Of course, the real star of "Side Effects" is Soderbergh, who claims this to be his final cinematic film. I've seen only a small sampling of his enormous filmography, but "Side Effects" seems pretty par for the course. It is an exquisitely crafted thriller with great performances and interesting stylistic quirks. The music, understated but constant, is a major asset to the tone of the film. As previously mentioned, his use of rack-focus shots provides both a unique language for the film and a storytelling boost.
There are certainly nits to pick about the film, but none worth mentioning here. "Side Effects" is a concise, exciting thriller film from a dependable director and a dependable cast. It's a great way to spend 90 minutes at the theatre this weekend.