Thoughts on Side Effects

I had previously seen a segment of the film, beginning with Emily attending, and having to leave, the party and ending somewhere just after she fatally stabs Martin. On that occasion I had been impressed with Rooney Mara and, having recently seen Carol, was eager to see the rest of Side Effects.

The dangers of receiving films in pieces are now much more apparent. What I had seen initially months ago is, I think, the best part of the film. Only when the section I saw was bookended to complete the story did it begin to wither into something far less satisfying.

The first thing that really got on my nerves – and we're talking about fine details I know – was the typography for the opening titles, as well as the visuals themselves. Really not to my taste and I was struck by the lack of clarity of the film's title when it appeared. Also, the music by Thomas Newman didn't work that well in my opinion. It reminded me strongly of Howard Shore's score for Crash (1996), which used discordant notes to convey the mental illness of the characters. Shore got it exactly right and it's still a pleasure to listen to.

Another thing that really disappointed me is how I began to question Rooney Mara's performance, which I'd had no problems with in my first experience of the film. This said, she is playing a woman who is deceiving everyone around her, and maybe I was picking up on that deception this time even before finding out the truth about Emily — which is good. I was surprised to actually quite enjoy what Jude Law did and found his performance more interesting. The rest of the cast are pretty forgettable sadly and there's a strange phenomenon where Law being English seems to afford his character more believability than the American ones, most of whom are incredibly boring and monotonous to listen to. Channing Tatum was okay but I did feel that Martin's reaction to being stabbed was stoic to say the least. The worst character to my mind was Catherine Zeta-Jones's Dr. Siebert, which is a "spot the villain" part of Wormtongue-esque proportions. I'd have preferred Siebert to have been a lot more innocuous but that's just one element of many where I think Side Effects could have been so much better.

I had previously seen a segment of the film, beginning with Emily attending, and having to leave, the party and ending somewhere just after she fatally stabs Martin. On that occasion I had been impressed with Rooney Mara and, having recently seen Carol, was eager to see the rest of Side Effects.

The dangers of receiving films in pieces are now much more apparent. What I had seen initially months ago is, I think, the best part of the film. Only when the section I saw was bookended to complete the story did it begin to wither into something far less satisfying.

The first thing that really got on my nerves – and we're talking about fine details I know – was the typography for the opening titles, as well as the visuals themselves. Really not to my taste and I was struck by the lack of clarity of the film's title when it appeared. Also, the music by Thomas Newman didn't work that well in my opinion. It reminded me strongly of Howard Shore's score for Crash (1996), which used discordant notes to convey the mental illness of the characters. Shore got it exactly right and it's still a pleasure to listen to.

Another thing that really disappointed me is how I began to question Rooney Mara's performance, which I'd had no problems with in my first experience of the film. This said, she is playing a woman who is deceiving everyone around her, and maybe I was picking up on that deception this time even before finding out the truth about Emily — which is good. I was surprised to actually quite enjoy what Jude Law did and found his performance more interesting. The rest of the cast are pretty forgettable sadly and there's a strange phenomenon where Law being English seems to afford his character more believability than the American ones, most of whom are incredibly boring and monotonous to listen to. Channing Tatum was okay but I did feel that Martin's reaction to being stabbed was stoic to say the least. The worst character to my mind was Catherine Zeta-Jones's Dr. Siebert, which is a "spot the villain" part of Wormtongue-esque proportions. I'd have preferred Siebert to have been a lot more innocuous but that's just one element of many where I think Side Effects could have been so much better.