This film is mildly recommended.
Everybody loves a good mystery. Unraveling the clues. Figuring out those mind games. Sorting out the suspects. Catching the culprit. Solving it all. And Trance, the latest crime thriller by Danny Boyle, tries desperately to be that.
But a problem usually arises when creating that good mystery. The viewer is lured into the web of intrigue with its unending possibilities, interesting characters, and a dense plot that keeps one guessing the outcome. However, when some of the rules of the game defy logical sense and only style camouflages the plots and twists, all that's left is an unsatisfying thriller that piles one contrived situation upon the next. And that is what Trance cannot avoid.
The film begins promisingly enough with an art heist caper involving a missing Goya. Caught in this mystery are the film's three main characters: Simon ( James McAvoy ), an auction house auctioneer who loses the painting during the robbery, Franck ( Vincent Cassel ), a sinister gang leader who wants that expensive painting, and Elizabeth ( Rosario Dawson ), an attractive hypnotherapist whose services are called upon to help Simon remember the whereabouts of the artwork. To say anymore could spoil the film, but this is, after all, Film Noir territory and the double crosses ( or triple crosses ) are par for the course.
Written by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge, Trance holds one interest during most of the film, but by the film's end, all the exposition and dark twists become more annoying than fulfilling. The script doesn't delve into the mechanics of the crime and would rather deal with the psychological mumbo-jumbo of hypnosis, unlocking the enigmas of the mind to solve its mystery, ala Hitchcock's Spellbound and its overwrought ode to psychotherapy. It doesn't help that he film's constant blur between reality and illusion confuses rather than enlightens the story. Also, the characters are a bit one-dimensional and lacking any depth to truly engage most moviegoers, although McAvoy, Cassel, and Dawson do give it their all.
Still, Danny Boyle directs with his usual high intensity flair. The film is extremely well-made, but it is mostly a slick and empty exercise in filmmaking. The director keeps things moving at a clip with flashy editing techniques and artsy camera angles. Scenes are well staged and photographed by Boyle's loyal cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle ( Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours ). Their visual sleigh of hand is used masterfully to cover the film's defects.
In retrospect, after all is revealed, the real problem with Trance is in its script in which the actions and motives of these characters seem muddled and make very little sense, except to provide a visually exciting denouncement. Trance could have used some more rewriting sessions, and some additional therapy sessions too. GRADE: B-
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