Trance Review

Trance Review

Cast: James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel, Rosario Dawson
Director: Danny Boyle
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated: MA
Running Time: 101 minutes

Synopsis: Simon (James McAvoy), a fine art auctioneer, teams up with a criminal gang to steal a work of art worth millions of dollars, but after suffering a blow to the head during the heist he wakes to discover that he has no memory of where he has hidden the painting. When physical threats and torture fail to produce answers, the gang's leader Franck (Vincent Cassel) hires hypnotherapist Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) to delve into the darkest recesses of Simon's psyche. As she digs deeper into his broken subconscious, the stakes become much higher and the boundaries between desire, reality and hypnotic suggestion begin to blur and disappear.

Verdict: If you love movies such as Inception, where you immediately feel like watching it all over again, as the credits role, just so you can piece through the information, then you will love Trance.

The director Danny Boyle (of Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours fame) enjoys using flashbacks in his cinematography and Trance is no different. Danny Boyle has created a film that is not for the faint of heart when it comes to violence nudity and bloodshed whilst I was left mouth-wide-open thinking -what?!'

The story surrounds Simon, (James McAvoy) who works in an auction house for classic and expensive works of art. When the heist for a 23 million pound painting goes wrong, and neither the authorities nor those that tried to steal it have the item, the thieves look to Simon.

However, because of a brain injury causing memory loss Simon can't remember where he put the painting - he becomes the job of Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) a beautiful hypnotist who is hired to find the painting location, amongst his memories.

Part of the confusion and thrill of this film is that you are unsure of who is on Simon's side, the confusion mounts from different trance sequences that complicate what is reality and what is being put into his head, along with Simon's fear that when the thieves know where the panting is, they will kill him.

This film makes audiences consider that memories can be altered over time through our own re-telling of stories, or even memories we have suppressed completely, and how sometimes it's best to not know the whole truth about them...
Rating: ****