Journal Article

Unsane and the Consequences of Gaslighting

Kowalik, George

2023

Overview

Delivered as voiceover narration, these are the opening lines of dialogue in Unsane (2018), Steven Soderbergh’s 28th narrative feature film (out of 34, as I write this) and second after his brief hiatus (initially described as retirement) from filmmaking. Unsane’s opening breaths establish an uncomfortable split priority of a speaker wanting to communicate how much someone else means to them, but only being able to do so by justifying the position of that “you” on the terms of an “I.” As the film’s title sequence ends and its story properly begins, any sense of ambivalence or parity quickly subsides for a very specifically one-sided, preferential, and unjust experience of gaslighting. Ignoring this earlier exchange, likely because she has been hardwired to brush these kinds of interaction under the carpet, Sawyer selectively describes the new job to her mother in corporate speak, using buzz words like a “competitive” company philosophy and a positively “demanding” work environment. After seeing a counsellor at Highland Creek Behavioral Center about her adjustment and struggle, Sawyer is manipulated as part of an elaborate health insurance claim scheme and unknowingly signs a consent form for voluntary 24-hour admission to the locked psychiatric hospital. Sawyer’s agency is reduced to pieces of paper with information dictating her ability to function within this community.

• Publisher: Donald Totaro
• Subject: Consent / Video teleconferencing