****
Now that Danny Boyle has cemented
himself into the hearts of the British public after his extraordinary Opening
Ceremony, he how has time to do something a bit more fun... and ‘Trance’ is most
definitely fun - there is full-frontal nudity, a part about shaving pubic hair,
torture, blood-spatters and a few explosions, but it is much cleverer than your
average blockbuster. It’s actually hard to discuss the film without giving away
the crux, but the set up we are presented with has been seen already in the
trailers. Simon (James McAvoy) works at an art auctioning house and decides to
make use of knowledge of the inner workings of the building and protocol to
stage an inside job, aided by gangster Franck (Vincent Cassel). Things go
slightly askew, leading to Simon being hit over the head and subsequently
forgetting where he’s hidden the painting. After tearing his fingernails out,
the gangsters decide to seek help from hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario
Dawson). But all is not as it seems...
Undoubtedly the film’s main draw is the cast,
who are excellent. The film is based around the triangular relationship between
McAvoy, Cassel and Dawson so the play off between them would have to be
believable for the film to work and luckily, it does. With so few speaking
parts, and such an intense relationship between the characters, the feeling is
one of claustrophobia, which works perfectly in, what is essentially, a
psychological thriller. James McAvoy is a very charismatic and engaging screen
presence, with his past roles making the viewer believe we know his character
in this film. Dawson is excellently cast as the hypnotherapist, with a silky,
rich voice that anyone would happily follow into a state of hypnosis. We
certainly believe that she is strong enough to hold her own in a group of
gangsters, but she also adds a vulnerability to the character that draws the viewer
in. Cassel has always been good at playing the dominating, scary character, and
this performance is no exception. One of the arguably alienating features of the film is
that all of the characters are morally ambiguous – we don’t really know who to
root for – but the nonjudgmental script means that we are swept along with
people who should ultimately repel us.
Another of the film’s strengths comes
from Danny Boyle’s visionary style. Visually, the film is outstanding, with the
use of reflections to give the effect of a split screen. The contrast between
bright and dark colours is also used to great effect, disorientating the viewer.
There is also an excellent aerial shot of network of motorways in the dark,
illuminated as red with the shining lights of the cars representing, at least
to me, the signals being sent round the brain via the synapses. The soundtrack
and the use of music in certain scenes helped to create a hallucinatory world,
but also added to the excitement, especially in the opening art robbery.
The film does not out-stay its
welcome – at only 101 minutes long, it is a perfect example that you don’t need
an overtly extended running time to make an engaging narrative. It is hard not
to make comparisons between Christopher Nolan’s films, such as ‘Memento’ and
even ‘Inception’, but in itself, ‘Trance’ proves that Danny Boyle is a film
maker before anything else and he definitely hasn’t lost his touch.
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