✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Cinema

Unsane film review ★★★★★

23 Mar 18 – 23 Mar 19, TIMES VARY

Shot using an iPhone and featuring an against-type Claire Foy, Unsane is an accomplished psychological thriller from the Ocean's Trilogy director that wobbles in its final act

By Daniel J Lewis on 22/3/2018

Unsane film review
Unsane film review
Unsane film review 3 Unsane film review Daniel Lewis
Director Steven Soderbergh is perhaps best known for the glitzy, glossy heist capers of the Ocean’s Trilogy, those fine-tuned and polished vehicles for all-star casts which hummed along as smoothly as a fleet of Rolls-Royces. Last year’s Logan Lucky, Soderbergh’s first feature since his very brief ‘retirement’, took off some of the sheen but had much the same bodywork and glide.



Unsane, which was thrown together supremely quickly and filmed mostly on the iPhone 7 Plus, is a very different beast, resembling something more like a second-hand hatchback: it gets from A to B reliably enough but it’s not exactly easy on the eyes and the wheels are always in danger of coming off.


Soderbergh’s elected passenger this time round is Claire Foy, doing an entertainingly unexpected turn as Sawyer Valentini, a young whip-smart woman who’s been driven away from her Boston home and mother by a stalker. Convinced her stalker has followed her to her new town, Valentini seeks help from a therapist who quickly has her committed to a mental health clinic without her consent.


Despite her best efforts to prove her sanity, and sometimes because of them, her time in the ward is extended and things go from bad to worse when she recognises one of the nurses as the man she’s been trying to avoid, throwing her into further turmoil – and her sanity into doubt.


For the most part, Unsane has all the cheap thrills of a joy ride with a boy racer – the simple but satisfying twists and turns of a B-movie in the hands of an A-list director. It also serves as a subtle exposé of America's 'insanity industry’, echoing Soderbergh’s 2013 film Side Effects which explored the exploitation of mental illness by institutions.



However, the film runs into some difficulties in its final lap. As it hurtles towards its conclusion, it descends into silliness, hastily undermining much of the film’s craft –the smartphone aesthetics get harder to ignore – and loosening many of the screws it has spent so much time gently turning.


Unsane is just about carried through to the end by a refreshing dishevelled Claire Foy, replete with American twang, who plays against the neater period drama type that millions have grown familiar with from her work in Netflix’s The Crown and the BBC’s Wolf Hall. Foy fares well in these much (much) lower budget surroundings, expertly leaving us wondering whether she’s in control or not, even when the film starts to wobble.


Slips and slides aside, Unsane is a fine film to pull up in front of and take a backseat to and it will play well to anyone susceptible to the charms of the quick and painless, though still unsettling, psychological thriller.



by Daniel J Lewis

What Unsane film review
Where Various Locations | MAP
When 23 Mar 18 – 23 Mar 19, TIMES VARY
Price £ determined by cinema
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 24–26 March. Photo: The Parakeet, Kentish Town
Things to do in London this weekend: 24–26 March
Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher in My Brilliant Friend season 4, HBO/Sky Atlantic (Photo: HBO)
My Brilliant Friend, season 4, Sky Atlantic: first-look photo, release date, plot, cast
Best art exhibitions in London. Photo: Thin Air at the Beams
Top exhibitions on now in London

Editor's Picks

Wes Anderson Isle of Dogs exhibition, The Store
Wes Anderson: Isle of Dogs exhibition, The Store
Call Me By Your Name
Why the gay love story is the defining film genre of the 21st Century
Secret Cinema Presents Blade Runner - The Final Cut
Secret Cinema Blade Runner: The Final Cut review
Alexander Skarsgård in Infinity Pool (Photo: Universal)
In cinemas this weekend: Alexander Skarsgård vs Keanu Reeves
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

Cinema

Drama

Thriller

Crime

You might like

  • The Square film review [STAR:5]

    The Square film review ★★★★★

  • Tomb Raider film review

    Tomb Raider film review ★★★★★

  • Mary Magdalene film review

    Mary Magdalene film review ★★★★★

  • A Wrinkle in Time film review

    A Wrinkle in Time film review ★★★★★

  • Gringo film review

    Gringo film review ★★★★★

  • A Fantastic Woman film review

    A Fantastic Woman film review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×