What is Steven Soderbergh’s The Bitter Pill actually about?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

A few days ago, my man Jake Dee brought you the news that Steven Soderbergh is about to embark on a psychological twister called THE BITTER PILL, based on a script written by his CONTAGION scribe, Scott Z. Burns. Plot details were very scarce; all we knew was what Burns dished out, that it “deals with people and their moods. It’s about how we as a society can’t tolerate sadness and what that makes us vulnerable to.”

Okay… but what is it about? Deadline.com seems to have the answer; in an article that reveals Summit Entertainment is the studio most likely to acquire the project, a brief synopsis for THE BITTER PILL is unveiled.

The film is a potboiler in the Jagged Edge-Basic Instinct mold about a troubled and depressed woman who is taking serious amounts of prescription drugs to deal with the anxiety surrounding the pending release of her husband from prison.

Considering the film’s original title was THE SIDE EFFECTS, we can assume that the plethora of meds the woman is taking have some, well, negative side effects. Let’s hope they’re wacky!

Soderbergh has two films coming out in 2012, the action-thriller HAYWIRE (starring Gina Carano, pictured below) and the male stripper comedy MAGIC MIKE. THE BITTER PILL will likely get underway early next year.