''Unsane'' is a 2018 American

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

film directed by

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventiv ...

and written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer. The film stars

Claire Foy Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix drama series ''The Crown (TV series), The Crown'' (2016–2023), for which List of awards and nominations r ...

, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah,

Juno Temple Juno Temple (born 21 July 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the comedy series ''Ted Lasso'' (2020–2023) and in the fifth season of the crime drama series '' Fargo'' (2023–2024). She earned Primetime Emmy Award nomi ...

Aimee Mullins Aimee Mullins (born 1976) is an American athlete, actress, and public speaker. She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs beneath the knee. She is the first amputee to compete against nondisabled at ...

, and

Amy Irving Amy Irving (born September 10, 1953) is an American actress and singer, who has worked in film, stage, and television. Her accolades include an Obie Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. Born in Palo Alto, Cali ...

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

has a cameo appearance as a detective. The film follows a woman confined to a mental institution after she is pursued by a stalker. The film was shot entirely on the

iPhone 7 Plus The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are smartphones that were developed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the tenth generation of the iPhone. They were announced on September 7, 2016, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco by Ap ...

. ''Unsane'' had its world premiere at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

on February 21, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 23, 2018, by Soderbergh's

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

Fingerprint Releasing and

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightlife, nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood popular today for music venues and comedy as well as a ...

. The film was a commercial success, grossing over $14 million on a budget of $1.5 million. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who mainly praised the performances, direction, cinematography and production values.

Plot

To escape a

stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring t ...

, Sawyer Valentini moves away from her

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

home. Still paranoid and traumatized, she talks with a counselor at Highland Creek Behavioral Center, who tricks her into signing a consent form for voluntary 24-hour admission to a locked psychiatric hospital. Sawyer calls the police, who can do nothing due to the signed form. During the night, stress causes Sawyer to lash out at a patient and a staff member. Consequently, the staff psychiatrist retains her for seven more days. Another patient, Nate Hoffman, reveals to Sawyer that Highland Creek is running a scheme to exploit health insurance claims. They trick people into voluntarily committing themselves as long as the patients' insurance companies continue to pay; when insurance claims run out, the patient is "cured" and released. One day, Sawyer sees David Strine, her stalker, working as an orderly under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

George Shaw. Borrowing Nate's secret cellphone, Sawyer calls her mother Angela. David gives Sawyer a large dose of

methylphenidate Methylphenidate, sold under the brand names Ritalin ( ) and Concerta ( ) among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It may be taken Oral adm ...

, causing her to appear insane. That evening, when Angela arrives to attempt to get Sawyer out, David approaches her posing as a hotel employee, and kills her. David tortures Nate then kills him with an overdose of

fentanyl Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic piperidine opioid primarily used as an analgesic (pain medication). It is 30 to 50 times more Potency (pharmacology), potent than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Its primary Medici ...

. Sawyer finds Nate's phone under her pillow, with images of Nate badly beaten. She alerts the staff, who dismiss and put her in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

. David visits Sawyer and says he has a secluded mountain cabin he wants to take Sawyer to. Sawyer mocks him for his inexperience with women. David later returns and reveals he faked that Sawyer's insurance ran out, changing her status to released. In a forest, the body of the real George Shaw is found. To buy time, Sawyer feigns concern that David is a virgin, and that she does not want to be his first. She convinces David to have sex with another woman and suggests Violet, who previously threatened Sawyer with a shank, and he brings her to the solitary confinement cell. Sawyer uses Violet's shank to stab David in the neck and flees as he kills Violet. He recaptures Sawyer outside, and she wakes up in the trunk of his car next to her mother's corpse. Jumping from the moving car, Sawyer flees into the woods. David catches up and breaks her ankle with a hammer. Sawyer stabs him in the eye with Angela's cross and slashes his throat with the shank. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Nate was an undercover investigative journalist sent to investigate Highland Creek. Police execute a warrant on the center and arrest the hospital administrator. Six months later, while having lunch, Sawyer sees David sitting nearby. She approaches with a knife, but upon realizing it is not him, she drops the knife and runs away.

Cast

Production

In July 2017, it was announced

had shot a film in secret in June 2017, starring

and

. The film was shot on an

in 4K using the app FiLMiC Pro, and was released through Soderbergh's Fingerprint Releasing banner. In August 2017, Jay Pharoah confirmed that he was a co-star in the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on February 21, 2018. and was released in the United States on March 23, 2018.

Reception

Box office

''Unsane'' has grossed $7.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $14.2 million. In the United States and Canada, ''Unsane'' was released alongside '' Pacific Rim Uprising'', ''

Midnight Sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...

'', '' Sherlock Gnomes'' and '' Paul, Apostle of Christ'', and was projected to gross $3 million from 2,023 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to $3.7 million, finishing 11th at the box office. In its second weekend the film made $1.4 million, a 61.6% drop.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Unsane'' unleashes Steven Soderbergh's inner B-movie maestro, wading into timeless psychological thriller territory and giving it a high-tech filmmaking spin." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Richard Brody Richard Brody (born January 22, 1958) is an American film critic, filmmaker and author. Background Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York. He is Jewish and has personally identified as an atheist. Brody attended Princeton University, receiving a B ...

from ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' wrote "Above all, oderberghrevels, with palpable joy, in his repertory of distorted, disturbing, lurid yet lucid images, making a furious movie that signifies nothing but the irrepressible vitality of the cinema itself. Soderbergh's experiment is a success."

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang is an American film critic and columnist currently working at ''The New Yorker''. He previously worked for '' Variety'' and for ''Los Angeles Times''. His 2023 reviews at the ''Times'' won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Critici ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote, "Soderbergh is one of the most dexterous directors working in the American mainstream, and he has a sly talent for lacing even a seemingly disposable genre offering with smart, incisive ideas."

References

External links

* * {{Steven Soderbergh 2018 films 2018 horror films 2018 independent films 2018 LGBTQ-related films 2018 psychological thriller films 2010s horror drama films 2010s horror thriller films 2010s police films 2010s psychological drama films 2010s psychological horror films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 20th Century Fox films American horror drama films American horror thriller films American independent films American police films American psychological drama films American psychological horror films American psychological thriller films American LGBTQ-related films Bleecker Street films English-language horror drama films English-language horror thriller films Lesbian-related films LGBTQ-related horror drama films LGBTQ-related horror thriller films LGBTQ-related independent films Films shot in New York (state) Films about mental disorders Films about murder Films about murderers Films about post-traumatic stress disorder Films about psychiatry Films about schizophrenia Films about self-harm Films about stalking Films directed by Steven Soderbergh Films set in psychiatric hospitals Mobile phone films Regency Enterprises films