Contagion (2011 film)

Contagion is a 2011 American medical disaster thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh. Its ensemble cast includes Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, Sanaa Lathan, and Marion Cotillard. The plot concerns the spread of a highly contagious virus transmitted by respiratory droplets and fomites, attempts by medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease, the loss of social order as the virus turns into a worldwide pandemic, and the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread. To follow several interacting plot lines, the film makes use of the multi-narrative "hyperlink cinema" style, popularized in several of Soderbergh's films. Following their collaboration on The Informant! (2009), Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns discussed a film depicting the rapid spread of a virus. Burns consulted with representatives of the World Health Organization as well as medical experts such as W. Ian Lipkin and Larry Brilliant. Principal photography started in Hong Kong in September 2010, and continued in Chicago, Atlanta, London, Dublin, Geneva, and San Francisco Bay Area until February 2011. Contagion premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2011, and was theatrically released on September 9, 2011. Commercially, the film made $136.5 million against its$60 million production budget. Critics praised it for its narrative and the performances, as did scientists for its accuracy. The film received renewed popularity in 2020 due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Returning from a Hong Kong business trip, Beth Emhoff has an affair with her ex-boyfriend during a Chicago layover and is feeling a little bit sick, which she attributes to jet lag. Two days later, back home in suburban Minneapolis, Beth's husband, Mitch, rushes her to the hospital when she suffers a seizure; she dies from an unknown illness. Returning home, Mitch finds that his 6-year-old stepson, Clark, has also died.