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Simply Perfect

Lack of good storyline.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It appears as if audiences either love or hate this film. For those people who hate it, the major complaint seems to be that they found the movie confusing and disjointed - and this is a completely understandable statement, given that the main aim of this film is to present a story as seen through the eyes of someone who has a fractured mind.A very brief synopsis: The movie opens with a series of flashbacks, introducing us to the main character, Ben (Colin Firth). Ben awakens from a week-long coma only to discover he has lost his wife in the very same car crash that put him in the hospital in the first place. Whilst recovering in hospital, he also learns that an R'n'B diva has been brutally murdered, and he soon finds himself obsessed with the details of her grisly murder. He moves into an apartment complex -- an old hospital currently undergoing renovations -- and meets his landlord, the sweetly innocent Charlotte (Mina Suvari). Soon after, Ben's grip on reality begins to loosen as he tries to piece together what happened to his wife and uncover the suspicious reasons behind his obsession with the murdered diva.I own this movie on DVD, & have watched it multiple times. It never ceases to mesmerise, even though I know how the story plays out. The acting is quite good, although Mina Suvari's character can come across as a little wooden at times. Colin Firth is such a quality actor, and he does a brilliant job here convincing us of his tortured-soul status, in a role quite different from his usual 'just-a-normal-guy' routine. In fact, I think his 'just-a-normal-guy' reputation is actually part of what makes this film so creepy - because his character is clearly not 'normal'.When watching this movie viewers should keep in mind that this story is told *entirely* through the viewpoint of a man whose own view of the world is fractured. We, the audience, are given no "life raft" points of view from the other characters in the story. And this is one of the reasons why this movie is so brilliant: the story-telling is disjointed, because the main character's own thought processes are disjointed and non-linear. The editing and cinematography are an important part of the story-telling, featuring jump-cuts, unique camera angles & the use of reflections to depict a shattered perspective on reality. Metaphors & red herrings abound and soon the audience - like Ben - is left wondering what is real and what is all in Ben's mind.

Trauma is a rather curious film which promises a great deal, seems to deliver, but which, on reflection, doesn't really deliver at all. In a nutshell, Colin Firth is the husband who had a crash in which his wife apparently dies, and who can't come to terms with her death. The backdrop to this personal tragedy is the mystery of the murder of a pop star who was beaten up, stabbed and Lord knows what else, and whose body is found in a canal in East London. There is, at first, no apparent link between that murder and the apparent death of Colin Firth's wife, but slowly links seem to be made, and by and by it is suggested that it seems our Colin might well have done the deed. Apparently. And the words 'apparent' and 'apparently' are rather apt here, because nothing is quite as it seems. Colin, lucky chap, is adopted by pert Charlotte, played by Mena Suvari, who is the landlord's daughter and who tells Colin that she is keeping an eye on the place, a former hospital which is - again apparently - being converted into East London yuppie apartments. (Incidentally, no other tenants are ever seen and nor is there any evidence that building work is ongoing. The old hospital resembles both an abandoned building site and a skip.) And the impression is also given that Charlotte merely the figment of grief-stricken Colin's imagination. And so on. It is, in fact, rather futile to embellish on that resume, because much of it is irrelevant. Why, for example, the emphasis on Colin's near-obsession with ants? Well, the simple answer is that such an inexplicable obsession plays rather well in a horror film. Why the suggestion that much of what is happening is all in Colin's imagination? And how to explain Charlotte's apparent - that word again - naivety? Anyone over the age of 16 who has spent more than a week in any city will know that such trust as she demonstrates is lethal - and naturally she ends up dead. Then there's the slightly spooky janitor who had previously worked in the hospital before conversion work started and who has a thing about the hospital morgue in the basement. What is his role? Well, it is simply to be the film's slightly spooky janitor, because such characters are never out of place in a horror film. There is, however, far, far less to him than meets the eye. The odd thing is that while writing this I'm feeling ever so slightly guilty, rather like the guilt you feel after admitting that the ugly sister you're rather fond of is really no looker. You see, although from the off Trauma is rather baffling, it has the knack of drawing you in, you go with it, you are intrigued as to where it will all end. And that means Trauma has already achieved a lot, lot more than any number of oh-so-formulaic Hollywood schlock on far bigger budgets - you know the kind of thing: I Saw You Scream Last Summer VI. In fact, despite my carping, Trauma can more than hold its own. Its difficulty is, I think, that it sets itself higher standards, and although it achieves far more than the formula stuff, it doesn't quite get to where it wanted to. I am prepared to accept that it was filmed on a shoestring and on location, but that is no criticism. Clever cinematography makes a virtue of the fact that the only set the producers could come up with was the old hospital being converted into yuppie flats, and that cleverness with using limited resources also means that it looks a lot more expensive than I'm sure it actually cost. Elsewhere in reviews of this film you'll get the usual IMDb extremes from this being quite possibly the best horror film ever made to lamentations that the viewer spent more than a milli-second of rubbish such as this. One reviewer even goes as far as to claim that Trauma is definitive proof that we Brits simply can't make horror films. But ignore both extremes, for despite its faults, its illogicalities, its short-changing in the facts department and a rather over-wrought denouement, Trauma is a lot better than many of its Yankee rivals. But it isn't quite as good as it might have been. You'll only be really disappointed if you go along hoping for the usual expensive, glossy dross which Hollywood can turn out by the mile. It is a lot better than that.

Well, I have to say that this type of movie is not necessarily what I usually like in a "restful, relaxing entertainment value." My reason for watching this was to continue my study of Colin Firth's film career since I saw him in A&E's production of "Pride and Prejudice" recently.However . . . although I have found most of the other movies Firth have played in to be either vulgar, filthy, slapstick or just plain dull for so charming a man and talented an actor (with the exception of "What a Girl Wants"), I can see that in "Trauma" he was shining through as the fantastic, brilliant actor that he is.This type of movie and part that he played can be one of the most challenging for any actor. The actor, Firth, has to believe everything that is going on around him and happening to him for the viewer to find it believable.The character he plays, Ben, starts out in the viewers mind as a sympathetic yet clearly disturbed young man. You are wondering what he is living on and yet how he can afford visiting a psychotherapist so often. You are actually suffering with him in the beginning and furious with his wife's family for their cold behavior.Little by little, the movie tears away the shell until you are getting a more clear view of what is going on and who and what Ben really is. You are wondering what his obsession is with the death of the singer, and how he could be involved. You are also finding out more and more than Ben had been stalking and terrorizing his "dead" wife.When finally his ex-wife unexpectedly makes a return entrance, the viewers are left to wonder at their senses and reasoning. We, the viewers, have experienced every heart break and internal punishment from Ben's mind including some really disturbing dreams. We cannot believe that this woman really is still alive and doubt our own sanity as Ben does.It is not so surprising that when the beautiful next door neighbor Charlotte, played by Mena Suvari, makes a return visit, our character Ben has completely flipped his lid – disbelieving in his own sanity and her very existence. He becomes psychotic about proving to himself and destroying what, in his mind, is telling him that does not really exist – a beautiful woman who seems to truly care about his torment.Our last final hope for Ben dies with his actions against Charlotte, and then with the concluding psychotherapist visit, the viewer realizes he/she has been duped through the entire movie in believing in Ben when there IS no psychotherapist.This was a truly amazing feat for a movie and for an actor, and that really surprised me, considering that I got the secret behind "Sixth Sense" in the previews of that movie before it came out.A couple of points to mention is that I did not understand what happened to his ant farm he was so fascinated by, and frankly, if Charlotte was supposed to be involved with psychics, why didn't she sense that there was danger in Ben at that moment before following him downstairs to nibble on a spider.The "F" word again was unnecessary for emphasis in areas, and the grimy scenes of abandon London buildings and streets, added to the overall depressed feeling from the film. Overall, this can be considered one of Firth's best portrayals, even if not the lovable character we would like to see him in.

Well, first off, I ***STRONGLY*** disagree with MWhittaker's high-minded dismissive view of this film (Sorry Mate... : ) GEEZ, it's like if a film is not WILDLY original in the extreme or with 'Vivacious Ingenuity' (as stated) so many seem to be just OH so bored and jaded that they dismiss it...Reference was made to 'JACOB'S LADDER'. Okay, so how many people have payed homage to or incorporated such a successfully disorienting mood with such a powerful psychological force even remotely similar to that great film...? Like, NOBODY... Okay, 'SESSION 9', one of my ALL TIME favorites along this line of psychological horror does a GREAT job and probably next to the more abstract nature of 'JACOB'S LADDER' is one of the very best of it's kind. Well, this one was not quite THAT good, but it didn't fall too terribly far short of it.Being an EXTREMELY devoted fan of David Lynch I would have to say that the director of this film captured at least some of the essence of the abstract and psychologically disorienting feeling of say Lynch's 'MUHOLLAND DRIVE', but without all the delightful and idiosyncratic trappings of course : ) So, let's give the guy credit for creating a VERY visually and mentally unsettling film that does it's job well. Not a masterpiece, true..., but FAR, FAR, friggin' ***FAR*** better than all these 'Cheap British Horror' films that our dear Mr. / Ms. Whittaker is alluding to. And you think '28 DAYS LATER' is Artsy...??? I think that that is a strong indicator of your point of view and taste there; not to be disparaging in any way at all, but I personally found that film, although very good, NOT ***NEARLY*** as 'Artsy' as this film in any way, shape, or form. That was perhaps 'Technique' or 'Style' my British friend, but not really any way near the artistic approach that this director used in this film, in my lowly and wretched opinion.Now, I have NOT seen 'MY LITTLE EYE', so perhaps in comparison this one may be disappointing, but please let's give credit for what this film is by itself. I ask, how many films can even come CLOSE to pulling off the mood, suspense, etc. that the visuals in this film do? MOST films that even bl00dy TRY usually fall flat on their little cinematic faces. [***EDIT (2014-10-27) I HAVE seen it now, and it is a frigg'n DISTURBING film! One of the first kind of Proto-Torture Porn movies, thus not really my kind of thing]And, YES, I love AMICUS, HAMMER, GIALLO, and some Grindhouse films too... However, to me this is comparing apples to oranges my friend. Since when have you seen a HAMMER film with this level of psychological complexity...??? I think honestly what it boils down to is a matter of preference; this film simply didn't 'Do It' for you, that's all. Perhaps you tire of all the weird visuals and gimmicks as you see them such as using the video monitors. Okay, fair enough... But, to all you lovers of PSYCHOLOGICAL Horror / Thrillers out there, let me tell you, I have rarely seen a film with such a sense of unease and psychological disorientation as this one for quite a while... Now, as I mentioned before, 'SESSION 9' is one of my utmost, favorite films; but, while watching that one I had more of a sense of 'DAMN! This is friggin' awesome!' whereas with this film I had more of a sense of deeper unease because of the disorienting force of the story making me feel like 'What the HELL is gonna happen next!!???...' So, in conclusion (if you all haven't already hanged yourselves by now... :) I would say that if you really want a good but somewhat ambiguous psychological thriller that will DEFINITELY keep you on the edge, and if you happen to like films similar to 'JACOB'S LADDER' or 'SESSION 9', then you should enjoy this film...