Trance

Trance is a twisty thriller in which neither the characters nor the audience know what’s going on and by the end it’s clear that neither the characters nor the audience really cares. The plot revolves around the theft of a Goya painting. Simon (James McAvoy) is the insider at a London auction house, Franck (Vincent Cassel) the criminal mastermind and Elizabeth (Rosaria Dawson) the hypnotist drafted in to help McAvoy remember where he put the painting when he forgets.

Hypnotism is the engine that keeps the plot revolving. Early on, Elizabeth states that hypnotism has its limits, but the film forgets this as it lurches from one improbability to another. If it had stuck to its thesis it might have been more interesting, but in a film where one person can make any other think or feel anything, it’s not long before we realise that a world where we can make people do whatever we want is a very dull place. Consequently, the twists come and go like the episodes in a bad dream where what happens next has little connection to what went before. It would be a confusing film if one of the characters didn’t spend half an hour explaining it to the rest. In a better film that wouldn’t have been necessary.

Although the plot isn’t up to much, the film does look good. Reflections and shadows are used to suggest that things are not always as they appear. The characters address their own reflections, or seem to be talking away from each other out into the night. It’s all of a part with the ideas in the silly script, but unfortunately, it seems to serve no greater purpose. There should be more to it, but there’s not. The actors and actresses do what they can with McAvoy in particular doing his best to find an emotion to express that will stick on the glossy façade of the film. He tries a lot, but the one that suits best is genuine puzzlement.

It is depressing to think that this is the kind of film that people will say is intelligent, that it really makes you think. An intelligent person is thinking all the time and a good film should give them something to think about. It should challenge what you are thinking and not at the level of pulling the chair out from under you as you try to sit. That gets tired quick.

At the end, the film says, “The choice is yours. Do you want to remember or do you want to forget?” I’d rather forget. But I can’t. That’s why life is worth living and this film is a crock.