UNSANE
US, 2018, 98 minutes, Colour.
Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Juno Temple, Jay Pharaoh, Amy Irving, Matt Damon.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Do we actually use the word “unsane�? Is it something of a mixture of sane and insane? Can it imply that somebody can be sane and insane at the same time?
Director Steven Soderbergh, with a strong career in films, Cannes award for Sex, Lies and Videotape, and an Oscar for Traffic, decided that he would stop making films and turn his attention to television. His decision for a new direction in work did not last long and in 2017 he released Logan Lucky and in 2018, Unsane.
The star of the film is British Claire Foy, who made such an impression as the Queen in The Crown and appeared also in Breathe. We first see her in her office at a bank, in a Pennsylvania city, treating a phone client with some severity. The worker in the next desk comments on her harsh approach. However, Seymour (she explains her name, that she was called after her maternal grandfather) is a success at work, praised by the boss, suggesting she travel with him to a conference in New Orleans – though she seems to have a quizzical response, suggestive that he is being suggestive.
Then, she goes to a bar, meeting up with a man whom she had contacted through an app, seemingly permissive but then suddenly stopping. So far, perhaps so ordinary.
However, she has been troubled by a stalker for two years, moving away from her mother (Amy Irving) and from Boston. She decides to go to a therapist and explains her fears and answers questions about contemplating suicide. Suddenly, she is interned in an institution for 24 hours, the staff suspicious of her responses, rather Cuckoo’s Nest in their application of rules and regulations. She finds herself in a dormitory, tormented by the young woman in the next bed, Allison (Juno Temple).
An explanation is given that institutions like this are dependent on insurance income and can keep intended patients as inmates for as long as companies are prepared to pay the insurance. (To be a particular interest for Soderbergh who explored the exploitation of medication and institutions in his film, Side Effects, 2013.)
As the film develops, and Seymour finds herself confined, she denounces one of the workers as her stalker. The authorities say that he has been definitely checked and, in fact, he is in charge of the distribution of the medication each night.
At one stage, we might have been suspicious that all this was going on in Seymour’s head, that she had imagined the stalker. Yet, here it is (Joshua Leonard) and sometimes in charge of Seymour.
She does make friends with another inmate, Nate (Jay Pharaoh) who tells her about the insurance scams and lends her his mobile phone so that she can make contact with her mother who hurriedly drops everything at home and hurries to her daughter, making demands, taking strong stances.
The plot does get quite complicated as it goes on, Seymour and her dealings with the alleged stalker, his behaviour, his interactions with Nate, his plans for a happy life with Seymour.
There is plenty of melodrama here, especially in a final confrontation, police investigations, media investigations into the ethics of the institution…
And, with Seymour returning to work, and some of her behaviour, we begin to wonder what has really happened…
1. The title, the use of the word, its meaning, sane and insane at the same time?
2. The work of Steven Soderbergh, sex lies and…? His more recent concerns about mental and physical health, frauds, bureaucracy, exposes?
3. Pennsylvania, the city, the bank and offices, the streets, the park, the bar, the apartment?
4. The contrast with the institution, the interview room, reception, stripping room, dormitory, meals, lineup for medication, offices, basement? The countryside outside, the joggger, the dead body, the woods? The musical score?
5. Seymour’s story? Named after her grandfather? Seeing her on the phone, harsh towards client, the comments to Jill? The boss, his praising her report, the invitation to the conference in New Orleans? Her hesitation about her boss? Sexual innuendo? Her going to the bar, the online date, the promise of sex, the sudden stopping, locking herself in the bathroom?
6. Seymour and the ambiguity of her attitudes? Going to be interviewed by the psychologist, the questions, being listened to, the story of the stalker, question about thinking of suicide, her precise memories? Filling in the forms, signing her freedom away, the 24 hours? The style, the harsh attitudes, commands, handing over possessions, stripping, clothes, the room, the bed and the dormitory? The cuckoo’s nest and the Nurse Ratchet approaches?
7. The staff, Dennis, Seymour punching him? The doctor, the request for the phone call, calling the police, their indicating that they received many such calls, not coming?
8. In the dormitory, Violet, her manner, taunts? Jacob and his approach, her kicking him? Nate, friendly, the sound advice, the explanation of the institution, lending his phone to her?
9. The expose of the institution, the staff, training, behaviour, committing clients, the reasons, the insurance, prolonging the insurance income for profit? The manager, the pleasant manner? The police visit, her having Nate’s reporting notes? Nate being undercover, for the media, the role of the police, his records? The arrest of the manager?
10. Seymour, her experience, phoning her mother, the previous alienation from her mother, coming 400 miles from Boston, so fast, the visit, the mother’s firm stances, demands, seeing Seymour, the discussions, offering help, going to the motel? David coming to the door for management? Her not answering her phone?
11. The days, Seymour’s alignments, staying, Violet and the others, lining up for the pills, David giving her hallucinatory drugs? The effect?
12. David as George, on the staff, his reputation and check? Work, distributing the pills, the hallucinatory drug and its effect on her? Showing her the envelope with her mother’s address? Seymour publicly denouncing him? His murmuring sweet nothings to her, continuing the stalking?
13. Nate, Seymour telling her story to him, the flashbacks to David’s behaviour in Boston, his father, Seymour reading to him, the advances, stalking? Two years?
14. Nate, his personality, the phone, David taking him, to the basement, tying him up, the electric shock, the drugs, Seymour seeing the picture on the phone? Matt Damon and his cameo and questions?
15. The jogger, finding the body, the police, identifying it as George? David taking his place?
16. Seymour in the basement, David coming, the abduction, imprisoning her, the lengthy talks, his explanation of himself, the hut in the woods, her telling him about the real Seymour and his not seeing her? The using the trick, to have sex with Violet? Bringing her down, the shard, Seymour attacking him? His killing Violet?
17. Seymour getting out, being hit, in the boot of the car, getting out, David pursuing her through the woods, the emphasis on the blue from the beginning of the film and the blue colour of the woods? Seymour lying still, then attacking him?
18. Six months passing, having lunch with Jill and then firing her? Her promotion, hearing the voice, like David, thinking he was the stalker, taking her knife, the mistake, dropping the knife, the close-up on Seymour?
19. The twist in the plot, confusion about Seymour on the part of the audience, normal, fixated, the stalker, making it up, the reality of David in the institution, the sudden developments in the plot, the violence – and Seymour’s imagination?
