Trance Review (2013)

The film is about as confusing as its cover

I feel as though Danny Boyle is one of the best directors that the UK has to offer, shocking the world with his film Trainspotting in 1996, a story about drug abuse and the strange effects that it can have on a person. Boyle then reinvigorated the zombie genre in 2002 with his film 28 Days Later, and since then, Boyle has continued to make widely entertaining and strange films ranging from 2008's Slumdog Millionaire to the heart stopping 127 Hours in 2010. However with Boyle's newest film Trance, I have very mixed opinions, perhaps because his previous works overshadow this film, or maybe its because I simply feel like the film is just trying to twist and turn too much to make it a good film.

Trance follows the character of Simon Newton played by James McAvoy a gambler that gets in too deep with the wrong people, in order to repay his debt sets up a painting heist with gangster Franck played by the awesomely evil Vincent Cassel (when is he not the bad guy?) in order to gain the money to repay the debts. However during the heist, Franck knocks Simon unconscious using the butt of his shotgun and this causes Simon to lose a certain part of his memory, namely the part where he hid the painting away from his companions. In the interest of getting painting back, the criminals intend to use hypnosis as a means of getting the painting back contacting the hypnotic Elizabeth Lamb played by Rosario Dawson in order to help them recover the painting. Through various Trance sessions it is revealed that Lamb knows of the painting theft and aims to work with Franck and his band of criminals hoping to accomplish the feat of retrieving the painting for herself through a strange past bond to Simon and a developing relationship with Franck, the blend between reality and Trance becomes ever harder to distinguish between.

Cassel and his band of criminals

Trance is a strange film, both in terms of visuals and narrative structure. Narratively this film is a difficult one to talk about without spoiling it, so minor spoilers will follow. At first glance it seems that James McAvoy is the central character and our primary narrative voice, we follow him through the initial robbery and when he is under the trances so are we, we follow what is happening in his head, the things that he see's are the things that we are also subjected too. Later on in the film it also seems as though Franck is the central character, we are with him in the scenario when it seems like he might drown its from his perspective that we see things happening and after that when he is in his swimming pool and answers the door again it is from the perspective of Franck.
However the real central character is Dr Elizabeth Lamb, the hypnotist. She is the real one behind the missing painting, as she manipulates Simon into stealing and hiding the painting, she is also related to Simon in an interesting way and they both share a past together and without spoiling anything too much, it has a lot of ramifications as to what happens in the last 20 or so minutes of the film.

Dr Elizabeth Lamb

Visuals are also difficult to talk about, due to the fact that at the beginning of the trance sessions, it is clearly quite easy to tell what is real and what isn't, mostly because there is something that is a dead give away, such as an iPad that only has one function or a lot of lense flair during a scene. However as the film progresses it becomes harder to tell what is real and what isn't, such as the scene when Simon goes on a killing spree and then it appears that he awakens from a trance and it is scenes like this that make this film such a confusing one.

One of those confusing Trance scenes

To me it feels like Danny Boyle pulled and M. Night Shamalyan with this film, there are a lot of twists and turns and if you don't keep up with them it becomes difficult to tell what the hell is actually happening. The films first few twists seem interesting, the fact that McAvoy was actually a criminal all along and was working with the thiefs in order to pay off his debts. Then its revealed that McAvoy planned to double cross the criminals in order to give the painting away to someone we don't know of. Then of course there is the twist of Lamb knowing about the painting the whole time and in fact she is the one who wants it, and it all gets to be too much.

In conclusion, Trance is not up to the standard of the majority of Danny Boyle's films. It isn't on par with the majority of his films in fact. However performances from James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson are something of note, the interactions between the two make you feel the whole time that there is something off about them even if you can't quite put your finger on it. The plot itself despite the twists and turns is actually very fun to watch fold out, and its almost a puzzle that you are going to sit through and try to uncover before the film is actually over. Despite its flaws, Trance is a fun film and one I think most will find at least something to enjoy with Danny Boyle's newest flick, even if it is the trance music if you'll pardon the pun.