Trance

Plot synopsis:
Simon (McAvoy), an art auctioneer, becomes an accessory to the theft of a painting–Goya's Witches in the Air–from his own auction house. When a gang attacks during an auction, Simon follows the house emergency protocol by packaging the painting. The gang's leader Franck (Cassel) then takes the package from him at gunpoint. Simon attacks Franck, who delivers him a blow to the head that leaves him with amnesia. When Franck gets home, he discovers that the package contains only an empty frame. After ransacking Simon's apartment and trashing his car, the gang kidnaps and unsuccessfully tortures him. But he has no memory of where he has hidden the painting. Franck decides to hire a hypnotherapist to try to help him remember.
Franck makes Simon choose a hypnotist from a directory, and he chooses a woman named Elizabeth Lamb (Dawson). As a first hypnotic exercise, Simon recalls where he put some car keys. Elizabeth exposes the gang's plan to have her hypnotize him, and demands partnership. In a next hypnotic episode, under gang supervision, Simon remembers that, shortly after the blow to his head, he awoke alone. On finding the stolen painting hidden in his suit, he left the art gallery. Distracted by a phone text message, while crossing the road, he was hit by a red car. The female driver tried to take him to hospital. Simon, in a kind of memory fugue, believed the woman was Elizabeth, recalling that she had made him forget her. The gang tries violently to force Simon to remember where he put the painting, and that ends the hypnotic episode. When asked by Elizabeth about how he met Franck, Simon confesses that he has a gambling problem. Franck helped him pay his debts in exchange for his help in stealing the painting.
To help Simon recover from the violence, Elizabeth stays overnight in his apartment. In the morning, Simon dreams of Elizabeth's having used a brain-scan behaviour-conditioning technique to erase an obsession that he had for her. Elizabeth tells Franck about that.
For the next step to recover the painting, Elizabeth tells Franck that she will sexually seduce Simon. Simon's feelings for Elizabeth recur, gently this time. At the same time, Franck and Elizabeth have unanticipated sex, and she steals his pistol from his bedside drawer. Nate, a gang member, sees them together and warns Simon, who confronts Elizabeth with it. She responds by touching his erotic mindspot, related to Goya's Nude Maja.
Remembering where the painting is, Simon goes with Franck and his associates to reveal the location, but overhears their plan to kill him. He calls Elizabeth and tells her that the painting is in a red car in a certain car park, and unable to leave Franck's apartment, he returns and kills the gang members instead. After shooting Franck, Simon wakes up: this was all dream, and he still is in Elizabeth's apartment. Elizabeth takes the car keys and goes to get the painting, leaving Franck's pistol for Simon. While searching for Elizabeth, Simon finds Franck in her apartment. Nate and his associates intercept Elizabeth and bring her there. Franck takes Simon to get the painting, and as he kisses Elizabeth, she secretly passes three bullets into his mouth. On the elevator, Simon stops Franck with a fire extinguisher, and then with the pistol, now loaded with the three bullets. In the apartment, Nate prepares to rape Elizabeth. Heading back into the apartment, Simon shoots the three gang members. He takes the car keys from Elizabeth, and loads the pistol with the remaining three bullets. He takes Elizabeth to get the painting, and she tells him to let Franck come with them. With Franck driving, Simon leads them to a parking garage where the painting is.
They collect the red car and drive it to a safe warehouse. During the trip, Elizabeth reveals that Simon was previously a client of hers. He had a gambling addiction he wanted to fix. They started an affair, and she found his erotic mindspot. However, he became obsessed with her, and eventually abusive. Fearing for her life, she re-directed the hypnosis to make him forget her. This led him back into his gambling addiction, which as previously stated, caused him to go in debt and to try to pay it off by stealing a painting, with the help of Franck. Simon recalls that, after the heist, when he was hit by the red car and mistook the female driver for Elizabeth, he strangled her.
At the warehouse, in the car's trunk, Elizabeth finds the painting and the body of the female driver. Simon, having at last remembered his past and wanting to forget, douses the car in fuel with Franck zip-tied to the steering wheel, sets it on fire and tells Elizabeth to run away with the painting. She runs away but promptly returns driving a truck which she drives into Simon, pinning him against the other car, and ultimately sending Simon, and the car Franck is trapped in, into the river.
Franck manages to escape, while it is implied that Simon is killed. The scene cuts to Franck swimming in his apartment while thinking of the event. He gets out of the pool and receives a package. He opens the package and finds an iPad that plays a video of Elizabeth talking about the painting, which is now hanging in her apartment. She reveals that when she hypnotized Simon to make him forget her, she also hypnotized him to go back into his gambling addiction and then try to steal a painting to pay off his debt. When this happened, he would instead give the painting over to Elizabeth. This explains why Simon took the painting away from Franck at the beginning and the text message he received before being hit by the car, which is revealed to be from Elizabeth telling Simon to deliver the painting to her. Elizabeth tells Franck that he can search for her and try to find her, but also gives him the option to forget the entire ordeal, and a button for an app called "Trance" appears as the video ends. Franck is shown debating whether to press the button just as the screen cuts to black.

Tags: comedy, psychological, neo noir, murder, mystery, violence, revenge, plot twist, flashback, psychedelic, romantic

Review:
The gang go to a hypnotherapist to try to get it out of him and from here it only gets messy.I can see what the plot was trying to do because it is constantly twisting and turning as minds are messed with; actions may or may not be programmed; events may or may not be happening and those who appear in control may or may not actually be in control and, even if they are (or aren't), they soon won't be (or will be) because everything will change in a minute.
You can sense it wants to be smarter and more thrilling that it is, but where Usual Suspects is slick and stylish on its journey, this really just bumbles and blasts it way to the finish hoping it can carry you with it by force alone.This force comes in the style of Boyle's direction and mostly it is good from this point of view – it is a good looking film but it does really feel like he is forcing the excess for the sake of it rather than it being part of the film.
Vincent Cassel alongside them brings the story to full force and together with Danny Boyle they all bring Joe Aherne's gracefully twitchy screenplay to life.Boyle interestingly enough stuck to his 18A rating not willing to dilute his story so he could hit a broader audience; the man isn't afraid to have graphic imagery in his film like other directors who have attempted the genre in a similar way (i.e. Chris Nolan, Inception).
He has said that he was finishing this project whilst he was working on the Olympic opening ceremony, and that this should be viewed as its 'dark, evil cousin'.Starring Vincent Cassel, James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson, Trance undertakes a card shuffling roll call of sympathy and understanding.
Boyle brings us a character-based, twisty thriller, just like the ones from the 1990's that launched his career.Trance is introduced with a Scorsese sprint-heist, where Simon (James McAvoy) is an inside man on stealing a £27,000,000 Goya painting from his job at an auction.
As expected Trance has all the visual flair you want from a Danny Boyle  film, with all the cross cutting between flashbacks and the present  time and Boyle does gets to play around with the dreamscape.
But if I were to lean toward a preference, then Danny Boyle's latest movie has an edge for being succinct in its tale, little loopholes and while fewer characters, is no less complex, but equally stylish in treatment, and bold in its story-telling, dealing with the premise of a heist gone wrong, and hypnosis being the last resort to get into the deepest recesses of the mind for the secrets it harbours.James McAvoy is probably in one of his best roles yet, opening the film as Simon, an art auctioneer who apparently has reasons to turn corrupt, giving the lowdown on the security measures on how to secure the most valuable art piece of the session in the event of an interruption of the process.
Who you thought was the lead in the film, gave way to some other character, and then more, putting you in a spot, yet being terribly engaging from start to finish that you'd want to have a go at the story again, being enlightened the second time round as to who the real puppet master was.Credit has to go to writers Joe Ahearne and John Hodge, the former who was responsible for an earlier television movie of the same name in which this film was partially based upon.
Everything was in place from the start, and the movie magic came from astute direction and intricate editing to shift perspectives, chronology and the like, together with absolutely wonderful performances from all three main leads to pull off this psychological thriller.Danny Boyle once again proves to be one of the most eclectic filmmakers of this generation, taking on varied genres without a bat in the eyelid, and delivering impressive results in coming up with a film's powerful imagery, with that knack of blending in a top notch soundtrack, and coaxing stellar performances from his cast.
Trance becomes that fine balance of substance and style, extremely well made, and very much less confusing than Inception, but no less complex in execution.James McAvoy retains his boyish qualities while contrasting that with darker emotions that hasn't been seen in most of the films he had starred in.
This leads Franck to set Simon up with a hypnotherapist, played by Rosario Dawson, to help him remember what happened to the painting.The story unfolds through Simon's perspective as we know as little as he does after waking in the hospital with amnesia.
While fans of Shallow Grave and Trainspotting will love the idea of Boyle re-teaming with screenwriter John Hodge, this will be a disappointment.Trance does not stop twisting and turning until the very end.
Danny Boyle's latest Trance is but one more film that tries to bait and switch us, but unfortunately the only effective twist in this tale is the rapid deterioration of an illogical but often gripping thriller into a sloppy and occasionally puerile mess, with a third act that lands with such a thud that any goodwill earned early on seems to be a hazy memory of a different film.Trance tells the story of Simon (James McAvoy), an apparently naive auctioneer caught in the middle of a high stakes art heist who loses his memory after a crack on the head from the heel of a shotgun wielded by thief Franck (Vincent Cassel).
Enter Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson), the hypnotherapist hired by Franck to break through Simon's amnesia to reveal the location of a £25 million painting that vanished in the robbery.The logic of the film is murky from the get go, but Boyle fires Trance out of the gate with such furious pace that allows little time to stop and pick apart the pseudo-scientific aspects of hypnotism as depicted here.
It's simply bad writing, and the film has no time to recover, left instead with an ending that has zero real impact beyond the crushing confusion of it all.Trance had the potential to see Danny Boyle to get back on track after a couple of minor works (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) that generated a lot of awards buzz but little enduring quality.
A few things are put in there and it's pretty easy to figure out the twist making the rest of the film a series of hooks that don't really work towards a main goal - at least it feels that way.Hypnosis is used too broadly in the story, using it much to frequently as something that is stable and ready-to-go.
In order to find out where Simon hid the painting, they randomly select hypnotherapist Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) to help.This is a case where Danny Boyle shows his hand too soon.
Danny Boyle, a renowned director of stage and screen, not to mention a writer, directed the 2014 "Trance" -- and from a brief look at the reviews, people either loved it or hated it.I hated it.I'm always fascinated by films about art heists, but this time, I felt let down.
That's not to take away from the originality of the story, but for me, it became too convoluted.In London, an auctioneer, Simon Newton (James McAvoy), helps a gang, headed by a man named Franck, to steal a valuable painting at the auction house.
The gang sends him to a hypnotherapist (Rosario Dawson), under an assumed name, and record him -- he doesn't say he's looking for this painting, obviously, since it's all over the news, so he says he's looking for his keys.The hypnotherapist turns out to be quite a character, and one can't really tell for a time if she's in league with the gang or trying to help Simon, as she plays both sides.
Well, mind bending films are best when it makes no sense at first then it lets you try to put the pieces together afterwards, but the random involvement of one character to the core conflict of the story is somehow exasperating.There is no denying that the performance are great.
There are some great action sequences towards the end that are thoroughly entertaining.The acting is pretty good; James McAvoy does here well here but his performance is overshadowed by the brilliance of Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson.
The complicated story involves Simon (James McAvoy), an art auctioneer who gets into a gambling debt and then enters bad guy Frank (Vincent Cassel) who sets up a heist for a priceless Goya painting.
Part film noir, part mystery, part drama and part psychological thriller, TRANCE is a form of picture we've seen countless times before but director Boyle adds his style and really makes it quite a fun trip.
While Frank is convinced of Simon's sudden memory loss, he is Adamant on recovering the million dollar painting, setting Simon up with Elisabeth (Rosario Dawson ); a local hypnotherapist who joins forces with Frank in order to help retrace the steps of Simon, in which they both hope will help recover the painting - leaving everyone except Simon extremely rich.As Simon vividly explores his memory with Elisabeth, it seems that she and everyone else have a bigger part to play in this puzzle, revealing a dramatic tale of desire, obsession and greed.James McAvoy is a joy to watch once again, offering a low key performance originally, the character of Simon is forced to up the antics in a bid to discover the truth.
In the beginning the viewer believes that the story merely about an amnesiac art auctioneer Simon(James McAvoy) who has foiled a burglary by 3 thieves (Vincent Cassel as Frank, Danny Sapani as Nate, Matt Cross as Dominic) by hiding the stolen painting before the thieves take it.
Vincent Cassel and James McAvoy play their part with conviction.Trance is unimaginative , slick , dark thriller which should be watched for amazing story , direction and enduring performances.
The whole psychology version of the movie may not be entirely true in the real life but the way Danny has brought it here is somehow ingenious.James McAvoy playing as Simon, an art auctioneer, becomes involved in the theft of a painting from his own auction house.
The suspense and mystery was really high and i was not able to guess what happened during the heist and what WERE the actual intentions of the therapist or Simon or Frank.Everyone played their part perfectly especially Rosario Dawson as Dr. Elizabeth stole the show and as Danny Boyle had rightly said during his interview that this is "the first time I put a woman at the heart of a movie." Her performance will turn your heads and you will admire her work along with James McAvoy.
It's the blend of all these in a masterful interweaving of genres that makes Danny Boyle such a master film maker.From his beginnings with his morbid masterpiece of Hitckcockian tale of normal people in situations that spiral out of control in Shallow Grave, to the hyper reality of Trainspotting and it's excellent music soundtrack that also blended genres., Boyle has shown a deft hand at mixing things up, telling extremely engaging stories.
But having said that I must say that "unknown" cast is exquisite, with a bit of IMDb.com research I was able to find things like the lead character James McAvoy was the main guy against Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin in the excellent The Last King of Scotland, or the main gangster type guy Vincent Cassel has been the baddie in many films including the 'baddie' director explaining the seduction of and his own seducing of Swan Lake in The Black Swan, and Rosario Dawson I remember from Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse "Death Proof" segment, or one of the femme fatales in Sin City.
First thing is I love trainspotting, sunshine, 127 hours, and although slum dog isn't really my cup of tea I think its an over mushy film where he got carried away in his location and with the people, but i can admit it was beautifully shot with some nice touches, then come the Olympics and I really don't understand all the big fuss, we were sitting there cringing it had a well cheap feel to it bit like a school play or something I personally think people got carried away and he was definitely a very poor choice to do it, with trance it is his ego now in the way mixed with not the actors he wanted and not the location he wanted due to his Olympic commitments, I think you can tell the actors knew this was going to be a turkey, but I suppose they were just hoping it was going to all come together, seriously bad written script, pointless nudity it serves no purpose I suppose some young kids who see it will get all excited but again it just comes across as why?
Normally a psychological thriller with Vincent Cassel directed by Danny Boyle would be a perfect time in a movie theatre for me.
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.
It's all flowing smoothly until Simon's cover at the hypnotist's is blown, and from here on in the film tries too hard to be clever, trying to play mind games with the viewer guessing who his real enemies are (or even if he has any friends!) and trying to show the plot from different angles.None of it's faults can detract from it's brilliant opening and Boyle's edgy sense of style, and the plot remains riveting and solid up to a point.
The editing style seems more to try to get you to think that there is more to this movie than there actually is.The use of music withing the context of what's happening is another disaster, for the most part not helping in one least bit and just being an annoyance most of the time.You can care less by the time the "conclusion/explanation" comes around, and feel like a fool that you had actually spent your time watching this drivel.It is rated R for amongst other things "graphic nudity".
The story is twisted quite a few times for the audience losing a few threads, but Mr. Boyle makes sure we pick up the story by the end of the film.
Elizabeth has sex with Simon and hypnotizes him in the beginning of his blurred journey between reality and daydream."Trance" is an entertaining neo-noir movie with a promising story about an auctioneer that stole a painting but does not recall where he has hidden it directed by Danny Boyle but also with a messy and unbelievable screenplay.
Danny Boyle delivers most of the times...good films, not more, not less...this seems to be one of his best.
Yes, there are some twists and turns along the way that you might not see coming, but the characters themselves - being thieves - are a pretty unlikeable bunch who I doubt you'll care much about their fate.Trance - once again - proves that Danny Boyle is a master of making things look cool and stylish.
When torturing Simon does not work, Frank turns to more unusual techniques and makes Simon see a hypnotherapist, Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) and forces everyone involved down a dark and twisted path.This film leaves me with the feeling that the story was more directed to create an impact in the viewer instead to make sense, make logical and have a good rhythm..
Trance requires a certain level of forgiveness from its audience, and a truly great thriller, I think, would never require such forgiveness.The coolest thing about seeing this film on opening night was that Boyle himself did a Q & A afterwards.
'TRANCE': Four Stars (Out of Five) Director Danny Boyle's new film about an art auctioneer, in league with a group of criminals, who sees a hypnotherapist to battle his amnesia and find a lost painting.
The film stars James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson.
Just kidding: Danny Boyle's frenetic crime thriller, Trance, is a cousin to Christopher Nolan's Inception and a second cousin to Memento.Trance is about memory and amnesia: Simon (James McAvoy), an auction house employee, is involved in stealing a Goya worth millions and unable to remember what he did with it; his co-conspirators are not happy with that outcome.
Danny Boyle directs yet another amazing film but this time he has made a very well crafted thriller.
Boyle gets excellent acting performances from his cast (no wonder, considering the quality of the players, James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson) and the characters created for "Trance" are all believable.
If you dig deeper into the effort presented here you could go as far as calling it borderline incoherent and a movie more interested in Dutch tilts and out-dated techno music than creating memorable characters or a believable plot.Trance tries to outsmart its audience with a flashy frenetic production design not unlike Boyles much more superior films such as Trainspotting or the hugely overrated Bollywood riff slop bucket that was Slumdog Millionaire (seriously does anyone ever talk about or remember this Best Picture winner?) but in the end any viewer with half a mind centred on the story will realises there is not much meat on this thrillers dry bones.James McAvoy gives one of his more forgettable performances as unlikeable lead Simon while Cassel is given nothing more than a nice suit as bad guy Franck.
Using the fragility of the mind will undoubtedly enhance any mystery or thriller genre due to the unreliability of the narrated perspective, which is the case for Danny Boyle's new film Trance.