Ryan McNeil
Danny Boyle is a director who has always known how to do a lot with very little. He has often taken on a simple concept with a simple team and found a way to produce maximum results. With that in mind, it would seem as though a twist on a heist film would be something Boyle could really pull off – hell, he’s done as much repeatedly in the past. However, something about TRANCE seems discontent with its simplicity. What will the change bring out in Boyle’s results?
TRANCE begins with Simon (James McAvoy) detailing the in’s and out’s of working at an art auction. He shows us that every precaution is taken to prevent high stakes robberies from occurring, right down to a team of mercenaries being put on retainer to stand guard. Through all of these measures though, a heist is pulled off – thanks in no small part to Simon’s assistance.
The robbery comes with a hitch though. In the course of the action, Simon is struck very hard in the head. This shouldn’t matter much, but it does because moments before he was struck, Simon pulled the stolen painting from its frame and stowed it somewhere safe.
Now, figuring out where he stowed it will take some doing.
The leader of the thieves, Franck (Vincent Cassel) is ready to try anything to jog Simon’s memory, including hypnosis. For that, he sends Simon to Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson); a therapist specializing in hypnotic suggestion. It will be up to her to put Simon into trance and lead him through his own subconscious.
But what does Simon have in there that’s causing him to forget?
As TRANCE unfolds, it seems so very familiar. There’s a high risk/high reward caper at its centre, and a beautiful gang of criminals doing the deed. The loot is something sexier than a vault full of money, and everybody involved seems to be playing everybody else involved. Soon though, the familiar leads to the unfamiliar as Elizabeth roots around in Simon’s subconscious. The film is at its best when it is reverse-engineering Simon’s every step, and trying to play past his fears and hang-ups. The same way these crooks can’t trust each other, we never seem to be able to trust that Simon is leading us down the right road in his own brain.
If TRANCE was content to leave things at that, I might be singing a different tune. However, in trying to be so very unfamiliar, it begins to fold in upon itself.
There’s a cockiness to McAvoy’s delivery of the opening monologue that tells you that there will be more to this caper than meets the eye. That cockiness pretty much broadcasts that our plot will take an unexpected turn at some stage. However the story is never content with just a turn. It keeps going until it can turn again…and then turn again…and keep on turning. So when time comes to reveal all, we’ve taken so many turns that we in the audience don’t quite know which way we’re going anymore, nor do we totally care. It’s as if the twists were being written, the writers muttered to themselves “They’ll never see this coming”.
And we don’t – for good reason. We’ve stopped caring about anyone involved.
Franck is a rat bastard thug. Despite his claims to the contrary, he seems ready to kill Simon the moment he gets what he needs. These qualities at least could make us gravitate towards him as an antihero, but his curious relationship with Elizabeth leaves him less cocksure, and likewise less interesting. Simon at first seems to be the one who will carry us through, even though he is clearly dirtier than he is letting on. However, he never seems to get a grip on his memories so much as he reveals how unreliable his memories are. He is a pawn, but a pawn too easily played, so again – less interesting.
Finally there’s Elizabeth. Dawson plays her with with a fair degree of complexity, starting out as a hired gun and quickly revealing her morally-compromised stripes. Unfortunately, the story betrays her. Besides the fact that her attraction to Franck is never properly fleshed-out, and her relationship with Simon is never earned. In a story where everybody seems so sure of their roles, Elizabeth seems to be making things up as she goes.
Those are a lot of flaws to overcome, and that’s not even counting one final piece of plot trickery that pushes plausibility over the cliff once and for all. There are no great bits of acting to speak of, despite the fact that all three lead actors have undeniable talent. There is a sheen to the film that seems more bent on “looking cool” than creating any lasting visuals or evoking any mood. And at the centre of it all is a crime that we no longer care about by the time it is finally pulled off once and for all.
What TRANCE seems to be most guilty of is failing to deliver on its promise. From the outset, with its handsome look and its driving score, the film seems to know all the angles. It has done its homework and knows how to get the job done. But while it may know how to pull off the big score, it never does. Instead, it continues to misdirect our attention and smile while it picks our pocket for loose change.
Wow, it’s starting to look like I’m the only one I know who really liked the film. Everything else ranges from meh to blah.
You have to stand alone sometimes. Don’t let it bug ya.
I really liked it too, if it’s any consolation.
Look at that, a movement is growing!
James McAVOID!
(First Danny Boyle film that felt *BORING* to me. Trance should be retitled Twaddle!)
It seems like if anyone would be able to do a heist film with moments of mind-fuckery, it would be Boyle. I have no idea why this misfired so badly in execution.
Rest assured, in the idiotic-but-rather-great department, TRANCE is no FEMME FATALE.
(surely to be continued at the Pub tonite, Ryan).
I’ll take “Movies I Haven’t Thought About Since 2003” for $800, Alex.
You should re-think, FF is a tonne of fun, which TRANCE is NOT.
I literally haven’t seen a moment of it since TIFF 2003, so I’ll give it another look. All I can remember off the top of my head is that long take set at Cannes, and a lot of split-screens.
I really want to watch it still. And not just because it has McAvoy and Cassel in it *fans herself*. Hopefully it will come out here.
I’m wondering if you’ll see a somewhat censored version when/if it arrives there.
It’s a guilty pleasure for me. Words can’t describe how silly the plot is, but I think Boyle is pretty aware of it. So he basically dresses it up as best he can and embrace the trash that it really is. I was entertained in a weird way, think it would be a perfect ‘midnight’ movie.
I can see that. At the very least, it still looks handsome.
Who am I kidding? I can completely forsee myself losing 45 minutes watching this when I’m flipping channels one Sunday afternoon.
I think it helped that going into the film, I wasn’t anticipating Trance to be so much about the heist as the aftermath.
I hear that, but the aftermath didn’t come together all that well for me. I do see myself revisiting this sometime in the future, so maybe then some of the good things about the film will bubble to the surface.
For now it just tastes like the flavours of the soup never quite came together.
“Elizabeth seems to be making things up as she goes”
I totally got this feeling, and not just about Elizabeth, but about the whole movie. It oftentimes did feel like it was just getting more and more complex just for the sake of it. Still, though, while I can agree with many of your critiques against the movie, I still enjoyed it quite a bit despite its flaws. Good review. 🙂
Welcome to The Matinee Chris, apologies for the late reply.
For a moment or two I thought I was being hard on this film, and then I remembered that it committed the terrible sin of wasting Vincent Cassel. I thought back on what he was able to do with a small amount of screen time in A DANGEROUS METHOD, and how glorious he was in BLACK SWAN.
I guess I’m saying that making a film in which he’s unmemorable takes a high degree of skill…or lack thereof.
Don’t be a stranger!
I really enjoyed it. It isn’t anything spectacular but it’s a good slick genre movie, memorable for (PLOT SPOILER) the way it pulls the rug from under the audience. James McAvoy’s Simon is set up as a likeable character despite his criminal involvement, we even feel a certain amount of pity for him, then suddenly in one scene the tables are turned and becomes somewhat loathsome.
I thought I was watching a movie about Simon and walked out feeling that I had watched a movie about Elizabeth. Not a classic, but a movie I think will age well and sit well in Danny Boyle’s varied back catalogue.
You raise a good point – and maybe if I focus more on Elizabeth next time, I will get more from it. To that end though, I’m not sure there’s enough nuance in her arc, especially considering her supposed mindset coming into the story.
There is no doubt whatsoever that it is Rosario Dawson’s character’s movie, but that doesn’t make it a good movie.
I’m with you; I really didn’t care for this movie at all which is so disappointing becausing it’s Danny Boyle. I thought it was a mess from the dropped focus on McAvoy’s character’s perspective, setup at the beginning in his opening monologue(as you discussed, to the mind puzzle it introduces but then explains away so easily (why even buy into figuring it out?) to Rosario Dawson’s lackluster performance (who I contend she struggled as a femme fatale; I’ve never been really impressed by her).
(Sorry for the late reply) Speaking of Dawson as a femme fatale, what did you think of her work in SIN CITY?
“There is a sheen to the film that seems more bent on “looking cool” than creating any lasting visuals or evoking any mood”
HMPHMMM
Here is the day where #RyanIsWrong should be plastered all over twitter. My review will be up in the AM, Hope you give it a gander and we can battle after
I feel like I’m going to come back to it eventually, but the first watch felt a little out-of-step. The Night Fox feels especially wasted in this film.
I had very mixed feelings about this one. It reminded strongly of a Hitchcock movie and maybe if it would have been made then I’d forgiven it for it’s concept. The hypnosis became too big a part for me.
Thanks for digging back a bit, Nostra!
I haven’t thought much about this film since I watched it back in the spring, which to me underlines that my original impression was correct. It’s not even that I was let down by a bait-and-switch scenario so much as I was disengaged by the way it wandered.
There was a better film there for sure.