Steven Soderberghis easily one of the most influential (and most prolific) filmmakers of his generation. When he took home the Palme d’Or for his brilliant independent filmSex, Lies, and Videotape, it was a major moment in the growing indie film movement that proved that there was a market for low-budget filmmakers working outside of the Hollywood scene. Soderbergh’s path of breakthroughs continued; he would go between making blockbuster hits like theOcean’strilogy andOut of Sightto focusing on arthouse projects like hisCasablancatribute,The Good German, and a remake ofAndrei Tarkovsky’sSolaris. However, Soderbergh indicated at the beginning of the 2010sthat he was now going into retirementafter the release ofSide Effectsten years ago. With the film’s anniversary today along withMagic Mike’s Last Danceabout to thrust into theaters, it’s the perfect time to look back at howSide Effectsessentially saved Steven Soderbergh’s career.
‘Side Effects’ Kickstarted Steven Soderbergh’s Most Exciting Era
Although Soderbergh had been coming off a series of mainstream successes withHaywire, Contagion, andMagic Mike,Side Effectswas clearly a passion project steeped deeply in his own interests. The psychological thriller explores the effects of an experimental medication prescribed to a young woman Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) by the practitioners Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) and Dr. Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones). While there are certainly elements of Hitchcockian mystery and shocking plot twists,Side Effectsis a deeply experimental, highly nuanced examination of the systematic corruption and abuses within the pharmaceutical field. Soderbergh had intended to bow out of the industry with another act of defiance.
Except he didn’t.Side Effectsdebuted to positive reviews at the Berlin Film Festival, and became a relativehit based on its budget.Soderbergh also didn’t stay quiet for very long, and within a few years, he started experimenting once more with unusual patterns of distribution,becoming one of the first filmmakers to embrace streaming servicesbefore it became the norm. LikeSide Effects, Soderbergh’s last decade of output has been hyper-focused, intimate stories thatspeak to the current news cycleand analyze complex issues. Even if he intended to makeSide Effectshis swan song, Soderbergh’s 2013 masterpiece kicked off the most fruitful and exciting period of his career.
Soderbergh Experiments With Narrative Tropes in ‘Side Effects’
Soderbergh has rarely conformed to Hollywood standards of production or cliches, andSide Effectswas distributed by Open Road Features, a newer studio that had only opened in 2011. While financing has become an increasing challenge for beloved auteurs, Soderbergh clearly has a positive reputation amongst actors, as he never fails to put together incredible ensembles. Yet,Side Effectsis also a film that weaponizes its stars; killing offChanning Tatumearly on is a pretty bold move, especially from someone like Soderbergh who had essentially launched his star’s career withMagic Mike.
In one of his many successful collaborations with screenwriterScott Z. Burns, Soderbergh focused on the details that most other filmmakers would overlook. There is extensive time paid to the process of prescription, which explains how these medical experts work around the minutiae of the legal system. Rather than dragging the pacing, this level of nuance only made the commentary more effective. It would be one thing for Soderbergh to create a quasi-documentary, but the ethical debates interspersed throughout help raise the viewers’ awareness of what he’s talking about. This increasingly became the model that Soderbergh began to draw.
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Steven Soderbergh Pioneered Through the 2010s
While Soderbergh had recused himself to retirement, he still had another completed project awaiting an audience. His Liberace biopicBehind the Candelabrawas selected to compete for the Palme d’Or but also debuted on HBO (a rarity given the Cannes Film Festival’s resistance towards streaming releases).Behind the Candelabranot only featured major stars likeMichael Douglas,Matt Damon,andRob Lowelong before it became common for established veterans to do television projects; it was also notable for the graphic sexual content, which didn’t have the restraints of theatrical distribution.
Soderbergh emerged from his retirement early on to begin production on his Cinemax seriesThe Knick; at the time,David Fincher’s directorial and producer role onHouse of Cardswas the only otherexample of a huge director taking on a streaming seriesin a leadership role.The Knickrepresents a mold of streaming television shows that would become quite popular. It was initially a ten-episode miniseries directed entirely by one filmmaker and examined a hyper-focused narrative centered on an obscure topic (in this case, 20th-century medical standards). WhileThe Knickwas canceled after only two seasons, it has subsequently gained more recognition as one of the decade’s best programs.
Soderbergh returned to filmmaking once more withLogan Lucky, which he self-financed and produced.Logan Luckyis a deceptively brilliant film. It’s a relentlessly uproarious comedy caper in the vein ofOcean’s Elevenbut analyzes the impact of the financial crisis on struggling communities. Sadly,Logan Luckyalso represented the type of commercial failure that would become all too common in the next few years; it was a well-reviewed, mid-budget film with major stars that underperformed amidst a summer of sequels and superhero movies. His next projectUnsanewas shot on a much smaller scale and featured inventive cinematography done on an iPhone.
Soderbergh Became One of the First Movie Directors to Embrace Streaming
When Soderbergh realized that audience turnout was changing, he became one of the first major filmmakers to embrace streaming. Beyond simply making films for Netflix, Soderbergh embraced the nature of the format. His NBA dramaHigh Flying Birdwas a film about the nature of streaming, distribution, and ownership, and his dark comedyThe Laundromatdeconstructed the Panama Papers scandal in the same explanatory, frantic style of Netflix’s documentaries.
Ironically, Soderbergh’s deal with HBO Max was made before the service made the decision to send all of the 2021 Warner Brothers releases onto the service. These films had similar qualities toSide Effects, as they were all engaging character dramas for adult audiences that subtly hinted at systemic issues.Let Them All Talkis a comedy about a famous author suffering from writer’s block, but it’s also a veiled satire of wealth.No Sudden Moveis an old-fashioned heist thriller that contains searing commentary on race relations.Kimiis a great modern riff onRear Windowthat analyzes victim culture and the consequences of surveillance.
Side Effectsmay have been conceived as the end of a storied career, but instead, it was the start of a new era. Soderbergh is undeniably one of the most prolific filmmakers working today, and his continued creativity so long into his career should serve as an inspiration. He may have not expected his pharmaceutical thriller to be one of the most influential films of his career, but it signified a shift in personal direction that others would later adopt.
