Trauma

source: Trauma

I watched this all the way through, though I cant pretend I liked it. The overwhelming impression of this movie was confusion. I had zero idea of what the hell was going on. All the effects of a shocker movie were there, the insects,the momentary glimpses of things undetermined, to raise the tension, the creepy caretaker, the muted colouring, the mutilated corpse, flashbacks, the almost abandoned building which was an ex hospital with, handily, a morgue in the basement ! etc etc. For me a movie must have entertainment value, there was none here, the story was nasty all the way through. Acting ? Colin Firth, Mena Suvari... first class as you would expect when you manage to acquire actors of their standing you want to put them in a better vehicle than this movie.

One description of Trauma is "An event or situation that causes great distress and disruption". Thats exactly what this film did to me because I was distressed from having to pay £10 to see it (two tickets) and disrupted from having to spend a VERY long hour and a half watching it. As soon as I saw the BBC films logo I knew I was in for something rubbish. Don't get me wrong, some BBC funded films are good but this is just dire. A lot of the set pieces have smacks of Jacobs Ladder about them and about half way through the film I thought thats exactly just what this film was about. Performances by Colin Firth et al are not bad although being a British film it suffers from the grime and depression that most films from our island seem to conform to. Disjointed, hard to follow and with an ending that leaves you with a horrid taste in your mouth, Trauma is definitely one to wait either for DVD rental or TV.

While recovering from a car crash and a coma, the weird artist Ben (Colin Firth) is informed that his wife Elisa (Naomie Harris) died in the accident. He tries to rebuild his life working with an old friend in the restoration of a building, changing his address with his ant farm and having sessions with his former psychologist. Meanwhile, the police is investigating the murder of the model Lauren Parris (Alison David), who worked with his wife. His gorgeous neighbor and super of the building, Charlotte (Mena Suvari), feels attracted for him, but the deranged Ben starts seeing his dead wife and is investigated by Detective Constable Jackson (Ken Cranham) as a suspect of murdering Lauren Parris. I saw the trailer of "Trauma" and I decided to see this movie, expecting a great thriller. Unfortunately, the direction and screenplay do not work well, wasting a good idea and making a film very confused and even boring in some moments about the process of madness. The identity of Ben's shrink is absolutely predictable. The beauty of Mena Suvari is very impressive. In the end, the trailer of this flick is better and better than the movie itself. My vote is four. Title (Brazil): "Trauma"

I can't remember being so disappointed by a film. I love psychological thrillers but this was just so pretentious and up its own ar*e that I found myself not giving a toss what happens to anyone in it (except Mena Suvari, naturally). I guess the hope is with making such a film is that the viewer will, through repeated viewings, find more and more to enjoy in the film, but frankly I would resent the loss of 90 minutes of my life having to sit through it again. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe if I did watch it again, I would find more to enjoy but directors ought to consider making their films suitably enjoyable at the initial viewing that you would *want* to watch it again. As it was I found myself justifying why I ought to watch the last half of it. What a wasted opportunity.

The first 15 minutes or so of watching this movie was a boring experience. I didn't know what was going on and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to know what was going on. However, after an half hour or so things started to get clearer. Still no clue really, but at least I felt like there was a plot somewhere. The last half hour or so was actually pretty good. By then I had a pretty good idea about what was going on and the movie was quite suspenseful, but not in the "thriller" sense of the word. This is very much a drama about mental illness and one man's fight against it. I have never seen Colin Firth in a role even remotely resembling this one before. I can imagine he liked the change. I think he does a good job because he makes it clear that his character is not an evil man or a "psycho". He is ill in desperate need of help. I can't say I liked Trauma, but I certainly didn't dislike it either. When it ended I felt that I had watched an interesting movie with many pretentious elements. Hardly an enjoyable experience and it's fragmented quality is certainly not for people who don't watch a lot of films. Interesting movie, but not a very good one. (5/10)

After watching Trauma I felt insulted for actually paying to watch such utter rubbish. I think BBC Film need to seriously consider it's role within the film industry after Trauma's dire performance. Also I strongly urge the film makes to learn the difference between cleverly thought out complex scripting and just plain nonsensical tripe. Colin Farrell puts in a snore worthy performance yet the best actor couldn't have saved Trauma from the film graveyard; It should be buried and forgotten about. Confusing would have been a good way to describe this film had there actually been a story line to follow. If you do watch this film you have my sympathy - I would only recommend it to insomniacs needing something potent to put them to sleep.

Marc Evans directs this superior British made movie about a man who awakens from a coma to discover his wife is dead and he's haunted by images from the past. Colin Firth is Ben, a traumatised coma recovery victim. He's confused about his life, and as a result of the death of his wife, possibly caused by himself during a road accident he's moved apartment only down the street near where a famous pop singer was murdered around the time of his wife's death. He has no concrete memory of the recent past, so cannot answer the questions his own mind is posing him. Stricken by nightmares and bizarre visions, Ben is utterly flummoxed and scared by what is happening to him, and to attempt to escape it he teams up with an old art college friend as a work partner. However, add into the mix his intense grief at his loss, and the entry into his life of the lovely Charlotte, played meltingly wonderfully by Mena Suvari, and it is plain to see that he simply doesn't know who or what to turn to in order to truly get his life back on track. There is also the overriding suspicion that the murder of the singer, Lauren Paris, is in some strange way connected to what is occurring to him... The direction in Trauma is absolutely fantastic. Psychological suspense is the name of the game here, and although it certainly takes a few nods from the likes of Vanilla Sky and Jacob's Ladder, it's unquestionably its own world. It is certainly the type of superb cinematography which disturbs in this sort of movie, hinting at innate 'wrongness' of certain things. Firth is initially quite hard to accept as the troubled Ben, but you get used to him and in the end he actually convinces quite well. As said before, Mena Suvari is quite delicious as Charlotte, encompassing a sort of Penelope Cruz demeanour as she was in Vanilla Sky. Her warmth, enthusiasm and eagerness shines through at all times. However, the only flaw I can find with this story is that I am *slightly* confused by what it all meant, and what the conclusion actually entailed. I am writing this review having read absolutely nothing about the movie, so for all I know, it was a terrible film which confused everyone! However, I really got a kick out of it, and although I am a mite baffled by it all, the polish and quality of everything about it shone through, for me, and I will endeavour to read more about it on this very site. Personally, if you enjoy psychological thrillers (This *might* have been intended as a horror but it was nowhere near the level of scariness a horror should be) with a hint of the supernatural, give this a shot.

This movie is an enigma and one that leaves what is real to the eye of the beholder. It leaves room for multiple interpretations. Ben (Colin Firth) is a man who wakes up in the hospital after a car crash to find that the rest of London is reeling from the death of a pop star. He tries to get his life back in order and re-locates to a grim building(being renovated) that used to be an old hospital, complete with old morgue headquartered in the basement. It recalls Polanski's 'The Tenant' or 'Repulsion' in its examination of psychological terror. Colin Firth turns in a believable performance as a man losing his grip on reality. If you are a fan of this type of film, I recommend it. You'll end up watching it more than once and drawing more than one conclusion about the outcome.

An unemployed loner (Firth) recovering from a road accident becomes obsessed with a murdered pop star and with the prospect that his wife, supposedly killed in the crash, might not be dead after all. In recent months we have had two excellent British films released in our cinemas. Geoffrey Rush gave what could well be the performance of his life in "The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers" and "Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels" producer Matthew Vaughn made a fine impression with "Layer Cake", his directing debut. "Trauma" is a Warner-BBC co-production that is both confused and pretentious and it seems longer than it's running time. Director Marc Evans fails to generate any suspense and the twist in Richard Smith's screenplay when it comes is hardly worth waiting for. Some moody cinematography from John Mathieson and a good performance from Colin Firth offer a little compensation, but one can't help thinking that this should have been confined to the BBC's airwaves rather than our cinemas.