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But among all the swooshing camera moves and hairline cuts and hypersaturated pops of color, there are actual actors giving wonderfully watchable performances. McAvoy plays Simon as a guy who's half lost lamb, half conniving fox, and even if you don't much care which side wins, he's fun to watch.

Yet Trance really belongs to Dawson and Cassel. When Dawson's Elizabeth steps onto the scene, you may be instantly convinced — without the aid of hypnosis, even — that she's surely the most effective hypnotist on the planet. She's an erotic, dangerous presence, with a voice that's a silky purr, soothing and persuasive — if she blew in your ear, you'd follow her anywhere.

And Cassel, who has proven his genius at playing complex baddies (in Jean-Francois Richet's Mesrine movies) and charming psychos (in David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method), is a supremely romantic presence here. His Franck is no good, mind you, but there's a sea of longing behind the calculation in his eyes. Cassel carves warmth out of an ice block of coldness.

Boyle may be sleepwalking — speed-sleepwalking, maybe — through Trance. But he's awake and alive when it comes to knowing what his actors can do. They're the movie's humming current, delivering just the right jolts to make sure we're fully awake.