Trance: The warped world of hypnotherapy

Oscar winning director Danny Boyle has recently come up with his new film “Trance”, an art-crime/hypnotherapy noir. As the name itself suggests, Trance is about psychology and it blurs several lines between fantasy and reality, hero and villain. The film begins with a smooth, clever voiceover by Simon, (James McAvoy) an art auctioneer at an auction house, specialised in putting prices on priceless pieces of artworks. The auctioneer is teamed up with a group of thieves who attempt to steal the Francisco Goya masterpiece, “Witches in the Air” during the bidding process for an auction. Things go smoothly until Franck (Vincent Cassel), the ringleader of the robbers gives Simon a blow on his head, knocking out all his memory of where he has hidden the artwork. The ultra-professional criminals then come to their injured collaborator, Simon -- when he gets released from hospital. The gang now sets their mission of extracting information from him on the whereabouts of the stolen art with the clichéd method – extreme physical torture, but ends up in vain; Simon remembers nothing.
As the first method fails, the bad guys send Simon to a hypnotherapist to crack the subconscious vault of his mind which stores location of the stolen painting. The plot thickens; the hypnotherapist, Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) insinuates herself into Simon's brain, as well as into the gang, making it almost impossible for the audience to distinguish between reality and hypnotic trance.
Scenes start breaking sequences and become trippy — a signature Danny Boyle feature. It's about a journey into the state of delirium, full of violence and unrated graphics not intended for all class of audience. Only the hardcore thriller lover will find it pleasing to the eyes and senses, while and an average audience might be disappointed as the sequences are hard to follow and getting into the plot proves difficult.
All in all, “Trance” needs a second watching to be certain about the connection of sequences and to get the twists. Both McAvoy and Cassel are average, while Dawson is always on the centre of action, doing reasonably well. The film has a number of good sequences and striking shots, but it demands undivided attention of the audience. Danny Boyle's choice of script is obviously unconventional and camerawork is as usual very solid. It's watchable; you won't regret watching the 101-minute thriller if you have the taste for the genre.