puravidastudent

6.5/10, worth a watch but not unmissable

*SPOLIER ALERT*

At the beginning of my 8-hour flight from Copenhagen-Washington DC, I open SAS’s in-flight entertainment magazine to see Danny Boyle’s ‘Trance’ listed under the headline ‘The Boyle’s Done Good’.
On reflection, I couldn’t agree more. But that really is it. Boyle’s done good- not fantastic, but not bad either. Boyle left viewers all over the world enthralled by his almighty project last year- the Olympic opening ceremony, that is. His simultaneous project, a film with good intentions, fantastic plot twists but unconvincing delivery, left me in a trance for all the wrong reasons for the rest of my flight.

James McAvoy plays Simon, a recovering gambling addict who attempts to clear his debts by stealing a £25million Rembrandt painting from his own auction house. But before handing the painting over to his former drug dealer Franck, played by Vincent Cassel, for reasons unbeknown to audiences Simon mysteriously hid the painting during the dramatic opening heist. On recovering from a head injury incurred by Franck, Simon wakes with amnesia and can’t remember where he hid the painting. Franck enlists hypnotist Elizabeth Lamb, played by Rosario Dawson to bring Simon’s memory back to shape, and uncover where his £25million prize lies.

So far so good. A unique thriller which would be classed in the novel world as ‘unputdownable’. A discordant and unsettling soundtrack enhances the constant sense of confusion as we are left wondering whether the ensuing action is hypnosis, dreams or flashbacks. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen- partly because I wanted to unpick the plot- partly because I’d completely lose track of what was happening if I looked away. Very Inception-esque. But watching Trance feels like watching only the shell of a film that could’ve been something brilliant, if only it was more convincing. The ideas are there, let down largely by Dawson’s inability to play such a complex and multi-faceted character.

It transpires during Simon’s hypnosis treatments that a dark past blocks his ability to open up his memory. Elizabeth has a larger significance to Simon than first appears, turning out to be his ex-girlfriend who hypnotized him into forgetting she existed after he became violent. But Elizabeth is not just a hypnotist, and she’s not just a victimized ex. She’s also a temptress, a manipulator, a thief, a savior and a killer. Actually, she turns out to be the whole point of the plot, as the epic conclusion reveals she hypnotised Simon to steal the painting for her- explaining McAvoy’s inexplicable compulsion to hide it. As Elizabeth’s warped past becomes more apparent to viewers, supporting characters are killed off in a zoom-in effect for her denouement to take center stage. This would have been perfect if Dawson’s portrayal of Elizabeth was convincing enough for it to be worthy of the spotlight.

Dawson’s robotic delivery is not sinister enough for audiences to believe that Elizabeth destroyed Simon from the inside-out. Neither is she feisty enough to trick her way past a criminal gang of four without a flinching. What’s more, if Dawson’s acting is all we have to go by, it seems as if Elizabeth’s tortured past with Simon wasn’t all that detrimental to her physical and mental wellbeing, as she jumps back into bed with him halfway through the film. The film features other astonishing plot-holes such as Franck’s apparent patience to endure endless group hypnosis sessions, where really he could have put his gangster influences to good use and employed a private investigator to locate the painting himself.

Trance seems like the disappointing film adaptation of a really great book. Perhaps Boyle should have released the script instead of the show reel. Or perhaps the olympic opening ceremony was enough on his plate. I turned off the screen feeling energized, yet dissatisfied. Enthralled, yet agitated. Nearly, Boyle.

Tags: Danny Boyle, Film, James McAvoy, review, Rosario Dawson, Trance, Vincent Cassel