Welcome to the World’s Worst Hospital Visit
Imagine you go to therapy for a little emotional tune-up and end up committed to an asylum, drugged, stalked, and surrounded by people who make your local DMV staff look compassionate. That’s Unsane, Steven Soderbergh’s gloriously twisted psychological thriller that proves three things: one, your therapist might not have your best interests at heart; two, Claire Foy can make paranoia look stylish; and three, yes, you can shoot a terrifying, artful, and darkly funny movie entirely on an iPhone 7.
Shot with the intimacy of a hostage video and the tension of a caffeine overdose, Unsane is a lean, mean, anxiety machine—a descent into madness that feels disturbingly relatable to anyone who’s ever accidentally signed a contract without reading the fine print.
The Plot: Therapy, But Make It Hell
Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) is a Boston transplant trying to start over after being stalked by a man who just didn’t understand the meaning of “please leave me alone forever.” Despite moving to a new city, she can’t quite shake her paranoia—or her stalker, as it turns out.
When she visits a counselor to talk about her trauma, she’s tricked into signing herself into a psychiatric facility. You know, as one does when they don’t check what they’re agreeing to. It’s the most horrifying example of “terms and conditions” since Facebook’s privacy policy.
Once inside Highland Creek Behavioral Center—a place that manages to be both sterile and seedy—Sawyer quickly realizes she’s trapped. The staff gaslight her, her fellow patients alternate between deranged and oddly reasonable, and her stalker, David (Joshua Leonard), somehow gets a job as an orderly under a fake name. At this point, “insane” starts to look like the only rational reaction.
Things spiral faster than a pharmaceutical stock price. There’s a mysterious patient named Nate (Jay Pharoah) who may or may not be sane himself, a shiv-wielding roommate played by Juno Temple, and an insurance scam subplot that feels alarmingly believable. Sawyer’s mother (Amy Irving) tries to intervene, but because this is a Soderbergh movie, she ends up dead, her corpse playing third wheel on a romantic kidnapping road trip.
By the time Sawyer stabs her stalker in the neck with a homemade shank, escapes into the woods, and uses a cross necklace as a weapon (symbolism, anyone?), you’ll realize Unsane is less a traditional thriller and more a funhouse mirror version of modern womanhood—where every step toward empowerment is greeted with someone asking, “Are you sure you’re not overreacting?”
Claire Foy: From Crown to Breakdown
Let’s get one thing straight: Claire Foy owns this movie. The same woman who wore tiaras and kept her composure as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown now spends 98 minutes ugly-crying, swearing, and stabbing people while rocking a hospital gown that looks like it’s made of recycled napkins. It’s a career move so bold it makes you want to stand up and curtsy.
Her performance is raw, angry, and laced with dark humor. She’s not your standard “scream queen”—she’s a modern horror heroine with a day planner and a deep well of trauma. Foy gives Sawyer layers: brittle professionalism on the surface, panic simmering underneath, and a core of feral survival instinct that’s downright exhilarating.
Her American accent occasionally sounds like it’s being held hostage by her native Britishness, but honestly, that just adds to the charm. After all, who wouldn’t sound a little weird after being trapped in a psychiatric scam facility with their stalker working the night shift?
The Real Villain: Late-Stage Capitalism
Soderbergh, ever the cynic with a camera, uses the film to jab at everything from healthcare corruption to workplace misogyny. Highland Creek isn’t just a creepy asylum—it’s a business model. Patients are kept as long as their insurance pays out, then “miraculously cured” the moment funds dry up. It’s less One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and more One Paid Through Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Even outside the institution, Sawyer’s life is an indictment of modern absurdity. Her boss is a condescending creep, her coworkers are apathetic, and even when she does everything “right,” she’s still punished for it. It’s the ultimate bureaucratic nightmare: you’re not crazy, but the system is, and it’s perfectly designed to convince you otherwise.
Joshua Leonard: The Stalker Next Door
Joshua Leonard (of The Blair Witch Project fame) plays David Strine, the world’s creepiest orderly and most persistent ex. He’s that nightmare blend of polite and psychotic—a man whose idea of romance is changing his name, forging employment papers, and following you into an institution just to be closer.
Leonard’s performance is unnervingly calm; his David speaks in soft tones and earnest platitudes, like a dating app message that somehow ends with you locked in a basement. His obsession with Sawyer feels uncomfortably familiar in the age of online harassment, but Soderbergh adds just enough absurdity to keep it from being unbearable.
When he’s not murdering people or quoting Hallmark sentiments at knife-point, David’s practically comic relief—a man so delusional he makes Tinder’s worst matches look well-adjusted.
The iPhone Aesthetic: Intimate, Claustrophobic, and Weirdly Beautiful
Now, about that iPhone cinematography. Yes, the entire film was shot on an iPhone 7 Plus, and no, it doesn’t look like your cousin’s vacation video. Soderbergh uses the device’s limitations to his advantage, crafting a visual style that feels like voyeurism turned art.
The tight angles and warped perspectives amplify Sawyer’s paranoia. Every hallway feels too narrow, every face too close. The shallow depth of field traps you in Sawyer’s mental space—part nightmare, part Instagram filter gone rogue.
It’s a fascinating paradox: the more lo-fi the visuals, the more intense the experience. The iPhone gives Unsane an immediacy that glossy Hollywood thrillers can’t touch. It’s not polished; it’s raw, intimate, and just a little unhinged—like a nervous breakdown caught live on FaceTime.
The Soderbergh Touch: Madness with Method
Steven Soderbergh remains cinema’s mad scientist—one week he’s making heist movies (Logan Lucky), the next he’s reinventing psychological horror with an iPhone. In Unsane, he proves that fear isn’t about jump scares or special effects; it’s about control—or, more accurately, losing it.
His direction is meticulous yet chaotic, blending Kafka-esque satire with B-movie grit. One minute you’re laughing at the absurdity of bureaucracy, and the next you’re clutching your seat as Sawyer fights for her life.
Soderbergh’s secret weapon is tone: Unsane is terrifying because it’s plausible, and darkly funny because it’s terrifying. You can almost imagine him grinning behind the camera, whispering, “Isn’t the healthcare system the real horror?”
The Supporting Cast: Mad Men and Madder Women
Jay Pharoah gives the film a shot of charm as Nate, a fellow patient who turns out to be an undercover journalist—basically Deep Throat with better lighting. Juno Temple’s Violet, meanwhile, is delightfully unhinged—a snarling pixie with the energy of someone who once bit a nurse for fun.
Amy Irving brings maternal warmth as Sawyer’s mother, right before she’s unceremoniously murdered (thanks, Mom). Even Matt Damon shows up briefly as a detective, looking like he accidentally wandered onto set while Googling “how to cameo in every movie ever.”
The Ending: Sanity Optional
By the end, Sawyer escapes her stalker, the corrupt hospital is exposed, and justice—sort of—prevails. But Soderbergh doesn’t let us off easy. In the final scene, Sawyer spots a man who looks exactly like David and nearly attacks him before realizing she’s hallucinating.
It’s a gut punch of an ending: did Sawyer win, or did she just trade one prison for another inside her mind? Either way, she’s earned her steak lunch.
Final Verdict: Insanity Has Never Looked So Good
Unsane is a masterclass in minimalism, paranoia, and cinematic audacity. It’s terrifying, hilarious, and smart enough to make you question your own grip on reality. Claire Foy gives a career-best performance, Soderbergh proves you don’t need a studio army to make art, and the iPhone finally earns its place as the world’s most dangerous camera.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5 Panic Attacks
Watch Unsane if you’ve ever wondered whether your therapist is secretly billing your insurance for an extended stay in hell—or if you just want to see Claire Foy stab patriarchy (and her stalker) in the eye. Either way, keep your receipts—and your phone charged.
