Posted By Steve Harcourt on September 10, 2013

Made around the same time as Danny Boyle was creating the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Trance is a multi-layered concept film that makes you think about memory, history and perception, much like the Opening ceremony.

Set in the world of London art auctions, ‘Simon’ (James McAvoy) is an art auctioneer tasked with protecting the works when a robbery is attempted.  Unfortunately, for the auction house, ‘Simon’ has teamed up with a gang of criminals to steal the main piece in their latest auction: a Goya painting worth £25 million. In the course of the robbery, ‘Simon’ is knocked unconscious by ‘Franck’ (Vincent Cassel) and he loses all memory of what happened, which becomes an issue as the painting is not where it is supposed to be according to the plan. Desperate to recover the painting, the gang resort to using a Hypnotherapist, ‘Elizabeth’ (Rosario Dawson), after all their attempts using torture fail.  As their efforts using Hypnotherapy progress, the boundaries between perceived realities begin to fall apart and things take some decidedly unexpected turns.

Although originally written a long time before Inception came out, way back in 1994, this film will no doubt get many comparisons made about its twisting narrative.  That is not the only film that this will bring to mind though, with other films such as Memento also dealing with converging realities and the difficulties of memory, as well as some films which I can’t mention as they would give hints on the plot and give away too much. Let’s just say that there are a few tropes here that we’ve come across before.

The plot is essentially that of a heist film, with a setup at the beginning and the usual carefully planned robbery, followed by an unfolding of the aftermath with various twists.  Using this convention, Danny Boyle plays with it quite a lot, throwing in all sorts of cinematic ideas & styles, as well as using the standard tropes well.  Thankfully, he is in good form and there is quite a dynamic style at work, with the usual flourishes, and visually it’s an engrossing film with much to admire.

Unfortunately, there isn’t that much depth in terms of getting to know the characters, and there are periods where it does seem a bit like some connected set pieces.  Even after knowing how the whole thing plays out, I still had unanswered questions about several of the characters motivations and exactly how some aspects interconnected, so to a certain extent it felt like we were being delivered a simpler film, but within the trappings of a more complex one.  It also gets a bit messy in the second half, with it feeling less tightly packed than at the beginning which makes it all seem a bit fuzzy.   This could be attributed to some plot elements making it deliberately and it does hang together til the end.

The cast gel extremely well and that rapport breathes a lot of life into the material, with each character having a believable dynamic.  For a film of this type, there definitely needs to be certain level of connection between the main trio of Dawson, Cassel and McAvoy. They have given it a considerable amount of ‘frission’, which drives the narrative to and fro within this triangle.

Ultimately, this feels like a film that isn’t as complicated or in depth as it appears to be on the surface. While it does get a bit convoluted, I did think it showed its hand a little early, giving away the main twist, although it is only a fleeting couple of moments that do so.  For Danny Boyle fans, it has all his usual flair and it is shot extremely well, with some amazing visual aspects, backed up by some great music score, as we’ve come to expect.  While it isn’t a film that will leave you pondering the finer details for weeks to come, it is a well crafted piece that is worth your time, especially if you go into it expecting a great heist movie.

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Categories: Movies, Reviews
Tags: auctions, Danny Boyle, Goya, heist, hypnotherapy, James McAvoy, Olympics, paintings, Rosario Dawson, Trance, Underworld, vincent cassel