The movie Unsane takes viewers into the dark and unpredictable world of paranoia and neurosis, blurring the lines between reality and delusion.
The central character is Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy), the victim of a scheming stalker. “Your life slips away from you, you know. Changing your phone number and your email becomes normal,” she relates to a therapist, answering in the affirmative when asked if she still sees her stalker everywhere.
Although Sawyer rationalises that this is most likely her imagination, she realises she still feels unsafe, despite her whereabouts being a mystery to her stalker. She also reluctantly agrees that she has entertained thoughts of ending her life.
Things take a turn for the ugly after Sawyer fills in paperwork that her therapist assures her is “routine”, and realises all too late, she has unwittingly committed herself into a mental institution called Highland Creek for a minimum of seven days.
Kicking and screaming to be let out after realising the error, she is however subdued by orderlies, who eventually sedate her and restrain her to her bed.
Her worst fears however are realised when she spots the very man she has been running from, David Strine (Joshua Leonard), taking on the guise of an orderly at the institution, dispensing medicine and cooly pretending he does not know her.
With her handphone confiscated, and her telephone privileges revoked, her only ally is Nate Hoffman (Jay Pharoah), a fellow inmate, who teaches her the ropes on how to survive in the facility, and eventually tries to help her escape. He also explains his belief that her stint in the institution is part of a deceptive insurance scam.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who’s past works include Traffic, Contagion and Erin Brockovich, Unsane has an eerie way of striking fear in one’s heart, showing how easily the fears of the mentally ill are dismissed by society and how open they are to abuse by greedy corporations.
The movie also shows how easy it is to scramble the mind of a totally rational-thinking individual by repeatedly telling them they are mentally ill. So it is with the drugged-up Sawyer, who begins to doubt herself, and her belief that her stalker is still on her trail and this time, dangerously close.
Soderbergh handles this blurring of reality and delusion deftly, and one does start to wonder if Sawyer really is a whack job, who was fooling the audience initially.
Although actress Foy is feisty and bold in her role, she somehow lacks that show of vulnerability that makes one want to root for her, even when she breaks down and cries on the phone to her mother. She is too much of a ferocious, foul-mouthed fighter for us to truly worry for her safety, sure in the knowledge she will escape her tormentor in some badass way.
It is also somewhat frustrating why Foy’s character did not choose to play smart by staying put, acting on her best behaviour for the next seven days and heading on out the door when her time was up, so she could report the institution to the authorities. From day one, she kicks up a fuss, getting herself into unnecessary bouts of trouble and falling deeper into the bad books of the orderlies there.
Were her antics simply to keep audiences hooked long enough to sit out the ending or was it a sincere attempt to accurately portray the plight of those with mental disorders, whose wailings nobody takes seriously?
It’s also somewhat far-fetched how Sawyer methodically plots her escape, and how her stalker David changes like a chameleon on cue every time the situation calls for it.
Yet this mystery thriller does have some unforgettable moments that makes it worth a watch. It was also shot entirely on an iPhone, something tech buffs will get a kick out of, and which brilliantly captured the stagnant sense of doom and gloom in the institution, mirroring the delusion and despair of the drugged-up inmates inside.
Unsane is brought to you by 20th Century Fox, and opened in GSC and TGV cinemas on March 22.