Side Effects
A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.
Despite a mid-range budget of $30.0M, Side Effects became a solid performer, earning $63.4M worldwide—a 111% return.
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Side Effects (2013) exhibits deliberately positioned narrative design, characteristic of Steven Soderbergh's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 46 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.4, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Emily Taylor waits anxiously at a prison to pick up her husband Martin after his four-year sentence for insider trading, establishing her fragile emotional state and their strained reunion.. The analysis reveals that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 13 minutes when Emily's dramatic suicide attempt by deliberately crashing her car into a parking garage wall, forcing psychiatric intervention and bringing Dr. Banks into her life.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 26 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This demonstrates the protagonist's commitment to Dr. Banks makes the fateful decision to prescribe Ablixa to Emily despite concerns, entering the world of pharmaceutical conflicts of interest and crossing into the main conflict., moving from reaction to action.
At 53 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Significantly, this crucial beat Emily stabs and kills her husband Martin while sleepwalking on Ablixa - a false defeat that appears to be a tragic pharmaceutical accident but shifts the story into a legal and investigative thriller., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 79 minutes (74% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Dr. Banks loses everything - his practice collapses, his wife leaves him, and he's professionally ruined. His career and life appear completely destroyed by Emily's case., shows the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 84 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 80% of the runtime. Banks discovers evidence of the conspiracy - finding proof that Emily and Dr. Siebert orchestrated the entire scheme to profit from stock manipulation, giving him the knowledge to fight back., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Side Effects's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs systematic plot point analysis that identifies crucial turning points. By mapping Side Effects against these established plot points, we can identify how Steven Soderbergh utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Side Effects within the thriller genre.
Steven Soderbergh's Structural Approach
Among the 16 Steven Soderbergh films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 7.1, reflecting strong command of classical structure. Side Effects represents one of the director's most structurally precise works. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Steven Soderbergh filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional thriller films include Eye for an Eye, Lake Placid and Operation Finale. For more Steven Soderbergh analyses, see Traffic, Ocean's Thirteen and Contagion.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Emily Taylor waits anxiously at a prison to pick up her husband Martin after his four-year sentence for insider trading, establishing her fragile emotional state and their strained reunion.
Theme
Dr. Banks discusses with a colleague how depression is about being "stuck" - a thematic statement about how people can be trapped by circumstances, medications, and deceptions.
Worldbuilding
Establishing Emily's depression after Martin's return, her previous psychiatric treatment with Dr. Siebert, her suicide attempt by driving into a wall, and Dr. Banks taking her case at the hospital.
Disruption
Emily's dramatic suicide attempt by deliberately crashing her car into a parking garage wall, forcing psychiatric intervention and bringing Dr. Banks into her life.
Resistance
Dr. Banks treats Emily, consulting with her former psychiatrist Dr. Siebert who recommends the new drug Ablixa. Banks debates the ethics and efficacy of various medications while Emily struggles with side effects.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Dr. Banks makes the fateful decision to prescribe Ablixa to Emily despite concerns, entering the world of pharmaceutical conflicts of interest and crossing into the main conflict.
Mirror World
Dr. Banks' relationship with his wife Deirdre and his ethical concerns about pharmaceutical consulting provide the moral counterpoint - representing professional integrity versus financial temptation.
Premise
The "pharmaceutical thriller" premise plays out as Emily experiences sleepwalking side effects from Ablixa, leading to the shocking event where she stabs Martin to death while in a sleepwalking state.
Midpoint
Emily stabs and kills her husband Martin while sleepwalking on Ablixa - a false defeat that appears to be a tragic pharmaceutical accident but shifts the story into a legal and investigative thriller.
Opposition
Dr. Banks' life unravels as he faces legal scrutiny, loses patients, is dropped from consulting contracts, and his marriage deteriorates. Meanwhile, Emily is found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to psychiatric care.
Collapse
Dr. Banks loses everything - his practice collapses, his wife leaves him, and he's professionally ruined. His career and life appear completely destroyed by Emily's case.
Crisis
Banks spirals into desperation and contemplates giving up, but begins obsessively reviewing Emily's case files, searching for answers in his darkest hour.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Banks discovers evidence of the conspiracy - finding proof that Emily and Dr. Siebert orchestrated the entire scheme to profit from stock manipulation, giving him the knowledge to fight back.
Synthesis
Banks executes an elaborate counterplan, manipulating Emily psychologically in the psychiatric facility and forcing Dr. Siebert to confess, ultimately exposing the conspiracy and clearing his name.
Transformation
Banks visits Emily in the psychiatric hospital where she is now genuinely confined. The tables have turned completely - he is free and vindicated while she is trapped, mirroring the opening but with reversed power dynamics.