When Danny Boyle directs a film, as he has 10 times in 20 years, his distinctive style leaves the audience certain of his involvement. Since Shallow Grave announced his arrival as an auteur, each subsequent effort has been steeped in the hallmarks of his signature vision, adding to his aesthetically and thematically cohesive body of work. So it is that Trance joins the likes of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later… and Slumdog Millionaire, ostensibly as yet another attempt at a new genre, but with evident ties to his earlier output. Indeed, the noir-flavoured hypnotic heist film is immediately recognisable as a Boyle feature, in story, style and structure.
Re-teaming with six-time collaborating writer John Hodge in their first combined effort since 2000’s The Beach, Trance ventures once more into their favoured playground of morally ambiguous mindgames. Ostensibly, amnesiac art auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class) is the wronged party when a high-profile theft sees him physically tortured by crime kingpin Franck (Vincent Cassel, A Dangerous Method) and mentally taunted by hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson, Zookeeper), but as always in a Boyle film, manipulation, distortion and deception lurk beneath the surface.
Though the story came to life two decades ago as the creation of Joe Ahearne (television’s This Life), only to be adapted by the scribe in a 2001 TV movie, neither its origins nor its longevity rob Boyle of his permeating influence, nor the twists and turns of the tale of their impact. As the central trio seek the coveted painting – Francisco Goya’s Witches in the Air – in Simon’s subconscious after the robbery goes awry, the inimitable presence of the helmer is apparent, just as the machinations of the narrative have the desired effect (albeit with predictable, convoluted and illogical patches).
Boyle is bold with his choices, even as he grounds them in his expected flourishes; however each hint of his flair is justified within the surreal and suggestive psycho-sexual storyline. Narration commences the film, as is often the case in his offerings, yet the shifting imagery ensures that sound and vision cannot necessarily be trusted. Colour floods cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle’s (Dredd) hallucinogenic frames as focus fades in and out; the kinetic rhythm of John Harris’ (The Woman in Black) swift edits pulsates as certainty wavers. An all-consuming score by Underworld’s Rick Smith, another of the director’s long-term creative partners, both consoles and cajoles as it continues the feature’s duplicity.
One point of deviation exists in the prominence of Dawson within the world of overt machismo, Boyle’s first elevation of a femme – fatale or otherwise – to such importance. In her finest work in years, the actress perfects the many moods and modes required; McAvoy and Cassel are similarly polished, if less taxed by their characters. Together, they effortlessly navigate the maze of mesmerising memories that lies at the film’s centre, and the striking, surrounding set-pieces as well. In vintage, hyper-violent Boyle fashion, the end result is memorable, even if somewhat ephemeral; a familiar and fitting effort from the fluid and frenzied director.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Trance
Director: Danny Boyle
UK, 2013, 101 min
Release date: 4 April
Distributor: Fox
Rated MA
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