You remember 2013, right? Danny Boyle was coming off the high of the London Olympics opening ceremony. Everyone expected his next move to be some massive, sweeping epic. Instead, he gave us Trance. It’s a neon-soaked, brain-melting heist thriller that basically turned Rosario Dawson into a modern noir legend.
But honestly, most people still talk about the movie for the wrong reasons. They focus on the "shock" scenes or the dizzying plot twists that make Inception look like a Saturday morning cartoon. If you look closer, the movie is actually a brutal character study about memory and power. Rosario Dawson doesn't just play a hypnotherapist; she’s the one actually holding the steering wheel while James McAvoy and Vincent Cassel are fighting over the map in the backseat.
Why Elizabeth Lamb is the Ultimate Femme Fatale
In Trance, Dawson plays Elizabeth Lamb. On the surface, she’s just the "expert" hired to help an amnesiac art thief (McAvoy) remember where he stashed a £25 million Goya painting. But she is way more than a plot device.
Boyle has gone on record saying this was the first time he put a woman at the absolute heart of one of his films. He wasn't kidding. While Simon (McAvoy) and Franck (Cassel) are busy acting like hyper-masculine tough guys, Elizabeth is playing 4D chess with their subconscious minds. She’s poised. She’s deliberate. Most importantly, she’s dangerous because she knows exactly how to weaponize the "male gaze."
There is a specific scene—one that caused a massive stir when the film came out—involving Dawson and full frontal nudity. People at the time treated it as gratuitous. They were wrong. In the context of the story, Elizabeth uses her body as a tool of psychological manipulation. She’s literally "laying things bare" to bypass Simon’s mental blocks. It’s a power move, not a pin-up moment. Dawson herself has talked about how she fought for the role because Elizabeth was so much smarter than everyone else in the room. She wasn't a victim; she was the architect.
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The Science (and Fiction) of the Hypnosis
Kinda wild how much research went into this. To get ready, Dawson actually met with real hypnotherapists. She didn't just want to "act" sleepy; she wanted to understand the physiological shifts.
- The Cold Factor: During her research, she learned that when someone enters a deep trance, their body temperature actually drops. You’ll notice in the movie her voice takes on this specific, warm, almost "throwaway" cadence meant to lull the subject.
- The Feet Never Lie: Dawson picked up a tip from a book by ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro called What Every Body is Saying. Basically, you can lie with your face, but your feet are the most honest part of your body. In the film, Elizabeth watches Simon’s feet to gauge his true reactions.
- The "Erase" App: Okay, this is where the movie veers into pure sci-fi. The iPad app she uses to "delete" memories? That’s not a thing. Real hypnotherapy is about suggestion and reframing, not clicking a "trash can" icon on a human soul.
The movie thrives in that gray area between sleep and wakefulness. Danny Boyle used these garish, "candy-colored" visuals—lots of orange and blue—to make the audience feel just as disoriented as the characters. By the time you get to the third act, you’re honestly not sure if you’re watching reality or just another one of Elizabeth’s "scripts."
That Ending Explained (Sorta)
Let's talk about the climax. It's a mess of burning cars, shipping containers, and double-crosses. By the time the credits roll, we realize that Simon wasn't just some innocent victim of amnesia. He was an obsessed, abusive stalker whom Elizabeth had already hypnotized once to make him forget her.
The Goya painting, Witches in the Air, serves as this huge metaphor for his madness. But the real kicker is the final choice Elizabeth gives Franck. She sends him a tablet with the "Do you want to remember?" or "Do you want to forget?" option. It’s a haunting ending because it suggests that our entire identity is just a collection of memories we choose to keep. If you delete the bad stuff, are you even the same person?
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Actionable Insights for Fans of the Genre
If you’re revisiting Trance or watching it for the first time, keep these things in mind to actually enjoy the layers:
Watch the reflection shots. Boyle and his cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, used mirrors and glass surfaces constantly. It’s a signal to the subconscious that every character has a "hidden side" or a second story they aren't telling.
Listen to the soundtrack. Rick Smith from Underworld did the score. It’s designed to be seductive. There’s even a track called "Sandman" where Rosario Dawson sings a few lines. It’s low-key creepy once you realize what her character is actually doing to Simon’s brain.
Check out the original. Most people don't know Trance is actually a remake of a 2001 British TV movie by Joe Ahearne. If you can find it, it’s fascinating to see how Boyle took a low-budget telly script and turned it into a high-octane fever dream.
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Observe the hair. This is a tiny detail Dawson mentioned in interviews. Elizabeth’s hair changes throughout the film—starting with a "nunnish" look that covers her ears and evolving as she gains more control over the men. It’s a subtle visual cue of her growing dominance.
Trance isn't a perfect movie. It’s messy, it’s loud, and the logic starts to crumble if you think about it for more than twenty minutes. But as a vehicle for Rosario Dawson? It’s arguably her most underrated performance. She took a genre that usually sidelines women and made herself the only person on screen that actually mattered.
If you want to see what happens when a director lets a female character be the smartest, most ruthless person in a "man's world," you need to go back and watch this one. Just don't expect to feel "relaxed" by the time she says "Deep sleep."
To get the most out of your next viewing, pay close attention to the background colors in Elizabeth's office versus the warehouse; the shift from "baby blue" safety to "harsh orange" chaos tells the story better than the dialogue ever could.