Side Effects Page #5

Synopsis: Emily Taylor, despite being reunited with her husband from prison, becomes severely depressed with emotional episodes and suicide attempts. Her psychiatrist, Jonathan Banks, after conferring with her previous doctor, eventually prescribes an experimental new medication called Ablixa. The plot thickens when the side effects of the drug lead to Emily killing her husband in a "sleepwalking" state. With Emily plea-bargained into mental hospital confinement and Dr. Banks' practice crumbling around him, the case seems closed. However, Dr. Banks cannot accept full responsibility and investigates to clear his name. What follows is a dark quest that threatens to tear what's left of his life apart even as he discovers the diabolical truth of this tragedy.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director(s): Steven Soderbergh
Production: Open Road Films
  5 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Metacritic:
75
Rotten Tomatoes:
83%
R
Year:
2013
106 min
$32,154,410
Website
1,774 Views


BANKS:
I don't

believe you can.

ATTORNEY:
I think

she'll take it.

But she does not walk out of the

hospital next week, or next month.

She goes away for a while.

That's part of the deal.

She'll have to agree to that.

You think that'll work?

I can get Dr. Banks to

help explain it to her.

Here's what we're

prepared to live with.

State agrees to an NGRI.

We make a side agreement about

how long she's institutionalized

before there's any sort of

hearing on her release.

So I'm not guilty,

but I'm still going away?

NGRI means Not Guilty for

Reasons of Insanity.

You're not guilty of murder.

You'll be moved to the Wards

Island Forensic Psychiatry Center

for a period of time.

But I can't leave.

No, not for a while.

You'll be under observation.

I'm not crazy.

You know I'm not crazy.

In my opinion, you are a victim

of circumstance and biology.

Isn't your opinion

the one that counts?

No, I'm just one doctor.

It may help to have you examined

by another psychiatrist.

We should get Dr. Siebert.

She's known me for a lot

longer, and she could testify.

Dr. Siebert's records have already

been submitted to the D.A.

And you weren't in her care

at the time of the murder.

But if I'm just a victim of

circumstance and biology...

it was the Ablixa.

You told me I should stay

on the Ablixa. I would never be

here if it weren't for that.

Emily, if you take this plea, as soon

as a psychiatrist says you're ready,

we'll apply for your release.

What if I say no?

ATTORNEY:

Then we keep going.

But they have a body, they have

your prints on the murder weapon,

and they have you at the crime scene.

We can't argue that you

didn't do any of that, so,

one day, it goes to the

jury and maybe they acquit,

you walk out of here on your own.

Or maybe it goes the other way.

EMILY:
Well,

what do you think?

I will tell you what I know.

An NGRI defense is only

successful 1% of the time,

and they are giving you that today.

BANKS:
You're

f***ing kidding me.

Nobody here has ever had a bad result?

Nobody here has had

a client react to a side effect?

Your arrogance here is breathtaking.

You take no responsibility?

For her body's reaction to a medicine?

It only just came on the market!

She has come up in a number

of my sessions as well.

It's become a part of

the environment here.

I have clients who are afraid

to take their medications.

We had the state board here.

It's on the nightly news.

Look, I spoke with her lawyer and the D.A.

We worked it out.

She's taking an NGRI.

She's going to hospital for observation.

It's behind us.

It's all gonna go away.

Bullshit, Jon! It is

splashed all over you!

It's going to follow

you around forever.

And us, too, if we're

standing next to you.

What does that mean? If

she's not guilty, why am I?

Rational people may

look at it like that,

but we don't see a great

many rational people here.

You can see what I'm saying?

We shouldn't even have to ask.

You should see what's happening.

But that seems hard for you!

(DOOR CLOSES)

Do you think I screwed up?

I don't know.

I noticed the Taylor woman

in the waiting room.

She was very attractive.

A wounded bird. Fragile.

Would you have treated her

differently if she was a man?

Gene.

That's not what happened.

Maybe it's time for you to slow down.

Your client load is down.

Get some cheaper space.

Focus on what's going on with you.

Unbelievable.

I received a letter, Jon.

I haven't shared it with anyone,

but I think it will likely surface.

What kind of letter?

It's about Alison Finn.

BANKS:
It was during

my residency.

There was a walk-in clinic

at the university.

I saw her maybe three times.

She saw other people there as well,

called the suicide

line every other night.

She was a paranoid schizophrenic

and a drug addict.

Very sick girl.

She knew where you lived.

She stalked me.

The letter says you

took her to London.

Never.

Why are they writing this?

Their daughter committed suicide

and left a very

graphic note, naming me.

It never happened. Look.

It's not unusual for there to be

emotional transference between

a patient and a therapist.

Had her perform oral sex in your car?

Never! It was a fantasy!

NARRATOR:
Depression can

take away your energy.

It can steal away your time.

SIEBERT:
A number

of years ago,

I had a patient who

was having an affair.

Came in here every week like

he was going to confession.

Cried, repented.

Didn't stop.

Then one day, he comes

in and says it's over.

He's finally got a handle on his

issues, like some great epiphany.

It was about six or seven months later

his wife turns up and says he has a

whole other family in another state.

He'd been lying to her.

And he was lying to me.

The kids blamed me. The wife blamed me.

Even the patient blamed me.

At times, I blamed me.

The point is the cardiologist can

see it coming, the heart attack,

from the tests.

It's in the blood.

But who can see the lies?

Or the past, or the sadness?

(SIGHING)

You didn't tell me

you wrote the article.

We were consulting on a

patient, not comparing rsums.

It would have been

a little self-involved

for me to mention it, don't you think?

It wasn't about me,

it was about Emily.

Why didn't you tell me

about the sleepwalking?

Me tell you?

She told you about them.

And you kept her on the Ablixa.

It was a decision you made, Jon.

How did you know that?

Know what?

That she had more than one episode.

How would you know that?

Did she have them when

she was your patient?

I know because it's in the news.

That's how I know.

Everyone knows.

Everyone knows everything, Jon.

Like that?

At that speed?

No, faster than that.

Oh, faster than that.

Yeah, and she was

carrying the seat belt.

She was wearing the seat belt?

Are you sure?

Yeah, I saw it!

WOMAN:
One moment, you're living high

on the hog, and the next moment,

you're visiting your hubby

in jail, eating ramen?

Who wouldn't be depressed?

And then what happened...

Oh, God, it's just so tragic.

I've suffered from my own

depression, so I understand.

I'm sorry to hear that.

"Every afternoon, around 3:00, like

a poisonous fog bank rolling in

"on my mind,

and I'm paralyzed. "

"A poisonous fog"?

That's not me. It's William Styron.

Yes. William Styron.

Darkness Visible.

Darkness Visible.

There are times when I feel I

could have written it, but...

So is she

doing any better?

I'm keeping an eye on her.

Excuse me.

Are you Julia?

Julia? Are you Julia?

Sorry to disturb you.

Are you Julia? No.

Julia? Are you Julia?

No, I'm Joan.

Julia.

Is there a... Are you Julia?

No, I'm Susan.

WOMAN:
Is there

something else?

I wanted to speak

to her friend, Julia.

Julia? I don't think we have

a Julia that works here.

Really?

Hey.

Look at this.

She knew all about airbags and seat belts.

F***ing commercial runs

on a loop in the lobby

where she works.

DIERDRE:
Where were you? What?

You forgot me at school.

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Scott Z. Burns

Scott Z. Burns (born 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. Burns has written screenplays for The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Informant! (2009), and Contagion (2011), all of which feature Matt Damon. His films The Informant!, Contagion, and Side Effects were directed by Steven Soderbergh. Burns also produced the Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth. In 2018, it was announced that Burns would direct The Torture Report, a drama about the secret torture program inside the CIA. Burns is a native of Golden Valley, Minnesota and graduated in 1985 with a degree in English from the University of Minnesota. He currently lives in Los Angeles. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Side Effects" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Aug. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/side_effects_18107>.

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