Directed by:
Lasse HallströmScreenplay:
Paolo VacircaCinematography:
Mattias MonteroComposer:
Oscar FogelströmCast:
Tobias Zilliacus, Mikael Persbrandt, Lena Olin, Helena af Sandeberg, Oscar Pettersson, Anna Azcárate, Jonatan Bökman, Jan Waldekranz, Eva Melander (more)Plots(1)
In the middle of a dark December night, psychiatrist Erik Maria Bark is woken by a telephone call from a hospital in Stockholm. Detective Inspector Joona Linna asks for his immediate help in treating an unconscious patient suffering from acute trauma. He hopes that Erik will be able to communicate with the young boy through hypnosis, enabling the police to question him. They hope to find out who so brutally murdered his parents and younger sister, in order to track down and save his older sister before it is too late. But it has been ten years since Erik last practised hypnosis, and he has promised never to do it again. Painful memories from that time make their presence felt, contributing to his decision not to help the police. When Erik finally allows himself to be persuaded, it is as if the floodgates have been opened to a torrent of unforeseen happenings. Without warning this violent and inexplicable course of events impacts with full force on Erik's life. His son disappears, and to have a chance of saving his life, Erik has to confront himself with the past, with the times when his research-work was laid in ruins and his marriage seemed on the verge of collapsing. (Svensk Filmindustri)
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Reviews (7)
I understand that from time to time Lasse Hallström wants to break out of the box of creating tender dramas full of family silver and romantic tears, but here even he himself could never have possibly thought he would succeed. The entire snowy investigation remains sadly mediocre and unremarkable even in crucial twists, and the unforgettable cast of actors (with the honorable exception of the grumpy Mikael Persbrandt) doesn't change anything about that.
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A truly hypnotic anti-detective story that has no tension, no charisma, and no atmosphere. Moreover, the script is so emphatically retarded that the barely average book by "Mr. and Mrs. Kepler" looks like a masterpiece compared to the film. The highlight of everything is the character of Joona Linna. I don’t think I have never seen a detective who lets a witness go who tells him at the beginning of the investigation that she knows the killer. And I've probably never seen a detective solve a case by sitting on the spot. Sorry, I have - his name was Zeman. In addition, Hallström filmed it unbearably statically (the whole family storyline is stereotyped to death) and in some places senselessly with too much flourish, as if the last thing he saw from a detective story came from the pre-Fincher Hollywood of the 90's. The result is so sexless and stupid that it offends.
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The Hypnotist is a decent thriller that focuses on the gradual unraveling of a sophisticated mystery. Some moments are predictable, but the story always keeps some questions unanswered. The married couple’s troubles shouldn’t have gotten so much space, as they slow the film down unnecessarily, although a certain hypnotic slowness is part of the game with the audience. The gloomy atmosphere of Stockholm in winter is not as powerful as the creators had intended, but Mikael Persbrandt excels in the role of the hypnotist. His performance is the best part of the film.
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An ex-hypnotist Erik is going through a marriage crisis when he gets a phone call at night, probably from a woman, but there’s a man at the other end of the line – a cop. Erik doesn’t hesitate and bolts, which makes his wife anxious, fearing that he’s cheating on her again. Two years ago, he did and she still doesn’t trust him. By the way, Erik loves pills. And when he sees an unconscious boy in the hospital, it turns into a very pleasant crime investigation, which is, after all, what the Northerners are so much better at. Even though as they say, all that glitters is not gold. In any case, I must admit that it wasn’t all that bad. I expected much worse.
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Lasse Hallström has never been known for wild plots or dynamic forms, but what is excessive for a Scandinavian detective story is truly too much. Especially when an unreasonably long shot of a certain person soon appears, and persistent clues are served to confirm a suspicion, it becomes frustrating. Beorn should have focused more on figuring out why his wife is such a shrew within the context of her hypnosis.
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