Film Review: Trance
Even when Danny Boyle fails, he does so with incredible style. Trance is his first feature since his olympic ceremony success and though it is an overly complex affair – disappointing compared to his previous hits – it should still be commended for its intent, its vision and the brave choices it makes.
James McAvoy plays Simon, an art auctioneer involved in a heist, but during the robbery he gets hit on the head and forgets where he has hidden the £25m painting he set out to steal. The leader of the criminal gang he’s involved with – Franck, played by a magnificent Vincent Cassel – sends him to Rosario Dawson’s hypnotherapist to help him remember. As Simon’s subconcious is explored everyone becomes more impatient and more paranoid, with violent consequences.
The actors all give strong performances, James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson do a great job of holding the film together when it starts to drift, but this is Vincent Cassel’s show. He has such a powerful screen presence and gifts his criminal mastermind with the perfect balance of reason and menace.
It is difficult to say where the film goes wrong without giving away some spoilers. Trance has a very strong start – James McAvoy is a likeable lead and narrator, playing Simon as mischevious yet harmless; out of place in the criminal world. Franck and the hypnotist, Elizabeth, are both strong, intelligent characters promising interesting power stuggles later in the film but it’s when the plot starts to twist and turn that things begin to fall apart. A lot that happens and many of the lead characters’ actions and habits early on don’t quite make sense until the revelations at the end. A little of this would suggest a well developed script, but here it’s overwritten to the point that when the explanations come they take so long to deliver that all the tension fades away.
It is the direction that McAvoy’s character takes towards the end that really changes the nature and enjoyment of the film. On paper the “I never saw that coming!” moment looks like a crowd pleaser, but in Trance it feels more like a bait-and-switch. Even with the promise of twists in the trailer, audiences will leave having seen a very different film than they expected. Everything in the film – the complexity, the pace, the sense of threat – escalates unpleasantly towards the end. Writers John Hodge and Joe Ahearne should be commended for trying something brave; it is a shame the result feels like tricking the audience, not surprising them – a subtle but important difference.
The sound design was clearly an important part of the development of Trance – both the music and effects really shine throughout the movie. The lessons Boyle learned making 127 Hours are used to great effect during early scenes of this film: when the gang first get a hold of Simon and don’t believe he has forgotten where he put the painting, sound plays a big part in helping the audience share in his pain. It is perhaps this connection with Simon that makes the ending all the more uncomfortable.
Although Trance‘s style outshines its substance, this is not a case of Danny Boyle heading in a Michael Bay-ish direction. Boyle is a national treasure for good reason, his intent here was clearly to make a film worthy of his audience.