Unsane **** / *****
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.
Written by: Jonathan Bernstein & James Greer.
Starring: Claire Foy (Sawyer Valentini), Joshua Leonard (David), Jay Pharoah (Nate Hoffman), Juno Temple (Violet), Amy Irving (Angela Valentini), Sarah Stiles (Jill), Polly McKie (Nurse Boles), Raul Costillo (Jacob), Gibson Frazier (Dr. Hawtorne), Erin Wilhelmi (Hayley), Aimee Mullins (Ashley Brighterhouse).
I think we all knew that Steven Soderbergh was never going to stay “retired” when he announced that was what he was doing after Side Effects and Behind the Candelabra in 2013. He was far too young and far too prolific and far too experimental to just stop. Since his “retirement” he has directed 20 episodes of the TV show The Knack, 7 episodes of another series Mosaic, which also added content for iPhones, acted as the cinematographer on Magic Mike XXL, the sequel to a film he did direct, and yes, two films in the last two years, and has more projects on the go. He never retired, just like Steven King never retired, despite having announced he was going to – and in both cases, we are richer for it. Unsane is Soderbergh’s latest film – and it’s a terrific thriller, and a relevant one for the #MeToo moment we are currently in. Part of the reason Soderbergh was able to make this film so quickly is because he shot it on an iPhone in an aspect ratio of 1.56:1, a boxier ratio than most, and one that works tremendously well for a narrative about a woman who is trapped – or “boxed in” if you will. It works as a straight ahead thriller – with a terrific lead performance by Claire Foy – but there are undercurrents that make it more relevant than most.
Foy plays Sawyer Valentini, a very smart financial analyst, who just started a new job in a new city that she describes as being an opportunity “too good to pass up” but which we immediately sense is beneath her. He has to deal with the veiled come-ons of her new boss (nothing too overt that he couldn’t pass it all off as innocent if need be), and goes out on a date to a bar with someone she met on Tinder. Early in the date she tells her date that “this going to go exactly the way you want it to” – the only catch is that he is to never call or contact her again after tonight. When they go back to her place it’s safe to say that no, it doesn’t go the way he wants it to.
Sawyer will seek help from a counselor at the local hospital – dealing with the trauma of having a stalker, which is why she fled Boston in the first place. Everything seems to be going well – and when the session is over, she just has to fill out some forms. She soon finds herself being committed to the psyche ward – having apparently signed a voluntary agreement for a 24 hour hold, that when she gets violent, gets extended to a 7 day hold. Has she really gone crazy? What’s worse, she is convinced that one of the orderlies (Joshua Leonard) – is really her stalker, David, who has found a way to keep her locked up.
Unsane is a little too overly plotted – there are subplots about an insurance scam for instance that doesn’t add much, and some of the patients on the ward just seem to be there for window dresses, and to become convenient foils later in the plot. The exception is Nate (Jay Pharoah) who is apparently there on a 4 week opioid rehab stint, who helps Sawyer navigate the chaos she finds herself in. Strangely, the movie resolves the issue of whether Sawyer has lost her mind or not fairly soon into the narrative – and then becomes something altogether creepier. The already justly lauded “Blue Room” sequence is among the best work Soderbergh has ever done.
The film works for the #MeToo era not just because of its stalker storyline – although that is a big part of it. Her stalker isn’t an ex-boyfriend or anything, but a sad, pathetic man who built up an entire life for “them” because she was kind to her dying father, and by extension to him. He is the prototypical “nice guy”, who doesn’t understand when women are all attracted to jerks, and never give guys like him a chance. He understands Sawyer so much better than anyone else ever could you see – loves her more than anyone else ever could, and knows that she would love him too, if only she would give him a chance. It also works on a much subtler level as well however – as throughout the film, no one really seems to take Sawyer – or other women – seriously, when they say something is wrong. They are dismissed and diminished.
Foy anchors it all with her terrific lead performance. Having not seen The Crown (and not like Breathe), I finally understand the praise for Foy – she is absolutely terrific here, keeping the movie going. Sometimes, people concentrate too much on Soderbergh’s innovations – and less on his storytelling and the films themselves. He isn’t the first to shoot on an iPhone, but here, it really does work terrifically well.
The final act has a couple of weak moments that overall don’t quite do the film that preceded it justice – it really is all downhill after the Blue Room, so while the end is effective, it doesn’t hit you quite as hard as perhaps it should. That is a relatively minor flaw though in what I think is one of Soderbergh’s better films. We need someone like him to keep pushing boundaries – and doing so with movies that are worth it for more than those pushed boundaries.
