Trance

Some of the marketing material makes it seem like Trance is Danny Boyle doing an art house movie again. But two minutes into Trance you see this is quite the opposite. Up until a certain point it actually seems too Hollywood for director Danny Boyle. But then the hypnosis kicks in.

Simon (James McAvoy) has decided to steal a painting at the auction house he works at. But he can’t do it all by himself. And on a traditional catchy Danny Boyle tune, Vincent Cassel comes walking in as Franck to do his dirty work for him. But when some things happen I won’t spoil for you, Simon gets hit in the head and when he wakes up, the painting is gone. Franck doesn’t have it and Simon has no idea what he did when the robbery took place. What to do, what to do. Franck knows: let’s try hypnosis. That’s when he meets Rosario Dawson as hypnotist Elizabeth and the story really kicks off.

It might seem like I’ve already told you a lot, but I really didn’t. From here on out it’s a mind game and you won’t find out what’s really going on until the end — although there are a couple of moments you can guess.

It’s a visual spectacle in many ways and the story keeps entertaining until the credits. But in the end there are too many twists and there’s too little depth for a Danny Boyle movie to convince fully.

Trance is out now (US). + more dates