Review: Trance

I cannot begin to describe how frustrating it is to write a review about one of the greatest pieces of cinema to be released this year (well, so far anyway...) and barely be able to talk about it. But then, in a way, I suppose I just did. Trance is the 10th cinematic release from Danny Boyle, flying high off the back of the triumph of the Olympics opening ceremony last year. Sadly the Queen and Mr Bean are nowhere to be seen here, replaced instead by the superior acting talents of James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel, and (Boyle's former girlfriend, so I'm told) Rosario Dawson.

The basic premise of the film, if you're unaware, is that Simon, McAvoy's art auctioneer, is in cahoots with Cassel's smooth ganster to steal a Goya painting worth £25,000. However, after being hit on the head in the midst of the heist, Simon suffers amnesia and manages to forget where he's hidden the painting. Enter Dawson's hypotherapist, Elizabeth, who tries to get the secret out of him in any way necessary. But really, it's so so much more than that. This film, like any really good thriller, sets out of one seemingly predictable path before violently veering off into completely unpredicted territory. Trance may be contemporary in its plot and look, but deep down it borrows cliches, just as any good thriller does. Double indemnity, femme fatales, violence - it's all in there, it just might be subverted in ways that you may not expect.

As well as its bafflyingly brilliant plot, Trance looks incredible. Boyle offers us a vision of London inspired by last year's Olympics - clean, minimal, all reflections and steel and mod-cons. Yet underneath that, there's still the gritty version of our capital that we're all too familiar with. However both versions of London are made to look both dazzling and sinister. Cost-wise, it's quite a step-up for Boyle, especially some of the film's later set pieces, definitely more Sunshine than Shallow Grave. Mirrors and reflections - often cracked or distorted ones - are used constantly, as not-so subtle metaphors for the characters betrayals and secrets. While not the subtlest of metaphors, it works on an aesthetic basis purely because it looks so damn good. And speaking of good, Dawson is simply luminous here. I don't know whether Boyle was aiming for a Tarantino/Uma Thurman thing here, but in every shot she's in, despite the circumstances, she literally glows.

I can't reveal anymore for fear that revealing even more minor plot detail will cause a ball of wool effect and slowly cause you to unravel the whole plot. But all I can do is beg, from the bottom of my heart, that you take a chance and see Trance as soon as possible so that you too can be shocked and wowed by its twists, turns, and visuals, just as I have been.

Grace Barber-Plentie