The Hypnosis

The Hypnosis starts out as a relationship movie that subtly satirises the environment of technology start-ups and then blossoms into a wonderful cringe-fest in the mould of Toni Erdmann, when your skin crawls because of the onslaught of inappropriate interactions. Director Ernst De Geer stages awkwardness as masterfully as his compatriot Ruben Östlund. He doesn’t go to similar extremes, though only for a few moments. ___ What if we could use hypnotherapy, for example, to release our consciousness bound by social conventions and rid ourselves of the fear of losing face? Like the protagonist manages to do, having returned to the self of her childhood and whose thinking is no longer limited by routine and rules. Everything becomes a game for her. But she has ahead of her an important presentation of the mobile app that she developed with her anxious partner, who expects Vera to play the role of the professional in meetings with mentors and investors, and to pretend that she is pursuing a worthy cause and, like him, wants to save the (third) world. However, it no longer makes sense to her to be only outwardly authentic just to not step over the boundaries within which “naturalness” and “true self” are merely harmless slogans aimed at increasing the attractiveness of the product. She wants to play with an imaginary chihuahua, drink vodka with milk and dance to loud music until the morning. Her dedication to the game highlights the hypocrisy and prudishness of the other characters, who have standardised their behaviour in the interest of career growth. Their imagination has atrophied in the meantime. Therefore, the question arises as to who is actually hypnotised, who behaves as if they are not themselves, but is instead a slave to norms and expectations. ___ The Hypnosis basically updates Lars von Trier’s The Idiots, though with a lesser degree of filmmaking radicalism. It adds the motif of performative feminism, corporate virtue signalling and a modern approach to relationships and to the psyche, which we constantly attempt to optimise as if they were our work projects. Unlike von Trier and Östlund, however, De Geer doesn’t approach the characters only as the objects of a social experiment. He is also interested in their feelings, not just the masks that they wear, thanks to which The Hypnosis ultimately works best as a relationship film in which the ultimate expression of love is acceptance of one’s partner in all of their positions. Including the absolute strangest ones. Or the most authentic. 80% (13/09/2024)