Danny Boyle's Trance certainly is a hypnotic 101 minute therapy session that leaves you feeling you received the treatment you paid for, though it is not a transcendent masterpiece and many may have been hoping for more. Providing a synopsis here would simply be unnecessary regurgitation of the trailer's concise expression of the film's premise. What we receive in the end is near enough what the trailer delivered, with some unwelcome changes in direction that caused the final product to be vaguely unlike what you ordered as it had the potential to be of greater quality.
From the establishing shot, we enter Boyle's trance, which is so mesmerising that for the initial third of the film, someone could be throwing popcorn at your face and you probably would fail to notice. Unfortunately however, from this point in the film onwards, we begin to fall in and out of this state of cinematic hypnosis, which is essentially your own battle between liking and disliking the film. This basically results in the effectiveness of the experience diluting. After a fantastic and intriguing opening that stays loyal to everything that one could have possibly assumed about the film, it diverts into what I find most despicable about any motion picture narrative: its focus shifts to be all about romance, while trying to clutch onto what literal and figurative artistic integrity that it still has. Trance both languishes and prospers into the grasp of a predictable, inevitable and certainly disappointing descent into a story about love that conflicts an already complex relationship between the film's three primary characters (played by James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel).
A much appreciated relief at the film's climax is that Boyle concludes his power over the audience in the way that he began: in an entranced state. Perhaps the simplest way to describe one's structural enjoyment of Trance (that is, how we go back and forth in liking the film) is to compare it to a sandwich. With two delicious layers of bread to just about maintain the overflowing filling, the start and finish to Trance certainly make up for some tasteless and unwanted revelations in the middle. Boyle's steady hands manage to leave you more than satisfied at the last bite, and the pacing and length of the film are perfect. It is also worth crediting the sound department for their excellent ability to consistently explore the hypnotic tone that is needed and adored for a film that explores the mind.
Trance is an effortlessly watchable and often therapeutic experience that is undoubtedly worth a chance. Some will probably adore its attempts at narrative complexities and more often than not, solid execution at achieving its objectives. Meanwhile, others may find the fairly unnecessary sexual and romantic themes to be the demise but not the surprise in Danny Boyle's latest cinematic endeavour. Whatever the consensus (or lack of), Trance most indisputably remains devoted to encapsulating everything that its title suggests, though the manner and extent to which we are convinced by the film, enjoy the film or even will remember the film is questionable.
My scrutiny for Trance may appear to be more negative than my actual quite positive stance. The main issue is that I wanted the film to be so much better, as it had such extraordinary potential to be a magnificent thriller, but the execution at particular moments simply digresses from the greatness that other parts of the film exhibit. Trance hovers between all of Boyle's other films (that I have seen at least) as it demonstrates an enormous amount of ingenuity, though unfortunately gets caught up in the web of romantic deceit, which is the unwelcome revelation and eventual destination of the film.
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