The other two films that Trance put me in mind of were Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky's 2010 Oscar winning movie) and Side Effects (Steven Soderbergh's, supposed final film). Trance is the story of Simon (James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class), an amnesia-suffering, inside man in an art theft who is taken to a hypnotherapist (Rosario Dawson, Sin City) in an attempt to find where he had hidden a stolen painting. Black Swan tells the story of a ballerina (Natalie Portman, V for Vendetta) driven to insanity by her quest for perfection in the role of Swan Queen, while being constantly advised by her choreographer (Vincent Cassel, Trance) to learn to lose herself in the role. Finally, Side Effects is the description-defying story of Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), the depression she suffered, the relationship between her and her therapist (Jude Law, Sherlock Holmes), and how her recovery unraveled.
There seems to be a long list of things connecting these films, as is apparent, no doubt, by their summaries. What is true of their style, is that all three films look good. Danny Boyle's stylized view goes into hyperdrive as this movie descends further into McAvoy's mind, while Aronofsky manages to get inside the dancing sequences of Swan Lake fantastically and Soderbergh's slow and unassuming camera led to genuine shock as the plot twists rolled into this "medical" drama.
The other areas which these films share common ground, are those that all similar genre pieces do - but in these films they are about as good as it gets. The three all dive head first into the minds of their protagonists, they manage to shock and excite in equally shocking and exciting ways, and maybe most importantly (although their sexual politics all occasionally waver in ways which are all too common in the movie business,) they all contain interesting, well developed and brilliantly acted female characters. Natalie Portman's Swan Queen was exceptionally well done and was the performance for which she won an Oscar. Rosario Dawson's therapeutic tones guided you through the movie beautifully, but in a subtle way could lead you astray from what was behind each character you encounter. Rooney Mara's performance as Emily Taylor was, again understated, at times sinister and even elegant in the most appropriate ways.
As a trilogy they deliver all of these things, and more. Add to this that they all, without exception, have had a profoundly strange effect on me, at least. I have a habit of attempting to guess where a film is going story-wise, especially with films such as these, but in each case I had a different experience. Whenever a revelation was made concerning plot or character (and believe me, between these three, you aren't short on them), instead of thinking "as I thought" or "I'd have never guessed that," my brain said to me, "How the hell did you not see that coming?" After I thought this through a while I realized that this was the greatest strength of the movies. These are films that you are engaged in to such an extent that no amount of explicit foreshadowing will render them silly, instead the films wash over you in the most enjoyable way possible and not a thought is given to what is coming next because what is on right now enthralls you greatly.
These three films, despite my enthusiastic praise, are not the high water mark of cinema, and they are in no way the best movies ever made. What they are however, are fantastically fun, and thematically linked films which are easy to laugh, cringe and engage with. Anyway, this is probably just my way of telling you that I'll no doubt be having a movie marathon when the three of these come out on DVD, and I'd recommend anyone with a love of horror-inflected, "psychological," M. Night-style movies do the same, and see them all.
I thought Black Swan was some way above the other two in quality - the casting, dialogue, imagery was almost perfect - only some extra time to develop a sense of place, as in e.g. 'Jacob's Ladder', would have really improved it. With Side Effects, I think Soderberg very cleverly chose a very pertinent subject matter again, one that very few are willing to tackle, and again chose to centre the film around a complicated woman in crisis - which all 3 films do. The only other film about the side effects of modern psychoactive prescription pills that I enjoyed more was the french film Le Nouveau Protocole (The New Protocol), nevertheless, the casting of Channing Tatum/Cath.Z.Jones was a terrible idea and made it hammy like a straight to DVD thriller from the 80's in those parts. I was hoping that the Jude Law element of the film would take off and it would become like the Tom Cruise film 'The Firm', where he realises how corrupt his profession is but Jude Law and Rooney Mara were superb - couldn't take my eyes off either of them. Trance is much more trivial really than the other two films - but again the central character played by Rosario Dawson is mesmerising - she must have been delighted to land the role and was perfect. I thought the male leads were very poor by comparison, particularly McAvoy, who I think is getting worse as he becomes a bigger star (Welcome To The Punch was terrible). The plot complications and twists are way too Midsummer Murders and pointless at times - I was really disappointed they didn't ditch all the macho running around London crap and just focus of the hypnotism/memory aspect of the film which suited the look really well and made me watch to the end - reminding me of 2 of my favorite classic black and white films, Whirlpool and The Seventh Victim. If they'd focused on that it could have become a sort of psycho-sci-fi thriller with the weird occultist imagery going on in the paintings too - the whole film was a tease, like it was beautiful trailer for some other film that's much more interesting than this one. Nevertheless, I think you have spotted a trend forming in recent years and I would extend it to Blindness, Red Road, Asylum, Hierro, Babycall, Lovely Molly, Birth, Incendies, Helen, American Mary, The Abandoned, GWTDT, The Fifth Season, Livide, Pan's Labyrinth, Bug, Miss Bala, The Broken etc. modern thrillers based around a complex leading lady, drawing on some classic horror and noir femme fatales. Perhaps the smarter directors have realised the vacuousness and impotency of FX driven linear plots - audiences are desensitised to them - and so have rejected the typical patriarchal or heroic male that tends to pop-up in those films.
ReplyDeleteThere's a good few films in there I've never seen and some I've not heard of. Thank you for taking the time to read through the post and articulate such a considered reply. I will definitely look out some of your suggestions.
DeleteAs for Black Swan, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I don't really see it as rising far away from the grounds of such films as Trance or Side Effects. I guess a lot will come down to the expectations you come to film with. I think all three work on a very guttural level, in relation to their horror and thriller aspects, and maybe it is just my age or limited experience, but I wasn't particularly bored at any point, in any of the three.
As for MacAvoy, I'm willing to fight his corner. Although admittedly I have not seen Welcome to the Punch, I think his performance in Trance worked with the story. It was a little over the top, but it wasn't Star Trek (first thing that came to mind) and as for his other, more recent appearances, I think as Prof. X he does a stand up job. I'm not sure I'd be happy seeing many other actors in that role following First Class (then again, I am in the minority that quite enjoyed it.)
..not a very strong defense of McAvoy there - a comic book caricature..? When you think of how good he was in Shameless, The Last King Of Scotland and (his best performance) Atonement, then look at his attempts to be the action blockbuster star - not good. His English and American accents are mince. I've not seen the Conspirator yet. I didn't rate Black Swan as highly as some other recent films, I was just trying to say, at no point did it seriously disappoint me or come across as corny or lacking in content/subtext - very quiet performance by Portman. I felt a bit cheated by Side Effects because the set up was well done and I really like Law and Mara - I'm sure she's going to produce something brilliant soon. Trance just looked great (superficial and full of homages), but the plot was like something out of Red Shoe Diaries or similar. Vincent Cassell is one of those guys that really needs to be directed or else he just starts to play himself, like John Malkovich I suppose. Rosario Dawson was unbelievably sexy & mysterious though - just a shame it was not more about her.
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