HIPNOS

Young Beatriz is hired as a psychiatrist at Dr. Sanchez Blanc's clinic, one of the most famous experts in hypnosis, which he uses to treat his patients' traumas. From the very first day, Beatriz notices a strange atmosphere pervading the clinic and its patients, as in the case of a child who became mute after a trauma and is only able to open up with the young psychiatrist. One day, the child is found dead by suicide in a pool, and Beatriz discovers that suicides in that clinic are rather frequent; moreover, one of the patients, Miquel, confides in her that he is an undercover police officer investigating the mystery of the frequent suicides and reveals that he has discovered that in reality, they are suicides induced by Dr. Sanchez Blanc himself through hypnosis sessions. From that moment on, Beatriz will find herself living a waking nightmare, in which reality and fantasy will tend to blend. That the new millennium has brought an evident wave of freshness to the territories of Spanish thriller cannot be denied by anyone, just as no one can question the great professionalism of directors like Alejandro Amenabar and Jaume Balaguerò who have ventured into this genre. However, a good direction and excellent photography, now distinctive signs of this Iberian vein, are not enough to make a good film where an original story and a good screenplay to support it are lacking. And it is precisely here that any film by the aforementioned Amenabar or Balaguerò differs from the work of David Carreras: "Hipnos". Carreras' film is one of the classic psychological thrillers that bets everything on the astonishment induced in the viewer by the final solution, but unfortunately relies on a rather unoriginal story, taken from the eponymous tale by Javier Azpeitia, and a screenplay, by Carreras himself, weak and absolutely incapable of arousing the viewer's interest. The biggest flaw of this "Hipnos" is indeed an absolute lack of rhythm, both narrative and cinematic, a story that never manages to take off, to get to the heart of the matter: the viewer watches bored, in a continuous phase of induction to drowsiness, the slow paranoias of the protagonist, who, between a shower, a bath, and a walk in revealing clothes, is the only reason, with her physical presence, that keeps the viewer awake. But it must also be said that the last minutes of the film, with the final revelation, manage to make everything at least minimally interesting; true, it is a solution that, in the end, is also easily identifiable with a bit of attention, which does nothing but stitch together some Freudian themes and a bit of modern thriller, but at least manages to bring the viewer back to a state of wakefulness. As was said at the beginning, "Hipnos" is enhanced by excellent photography and an attractive set design, which turn the clinic where the entire story unfolds into a kind of dreamlike environment, characterized by large, extremely white salons, contrasted with decaying rooms illuminated with dark colors, as to highlight the opposing planes of the characters' unconscious in their various phases of consciousness. Carreras' direction is also effective and very careful, though probably impersonal, slightly academic, but supported by a host of good actors, among whom stands out the beautiful protagonist Cristina Brondo ("The Spanish Apartment"; "Do You Like Hitchcock?"), capable of adding a touch of eroticism to the story solely through her presence. Therefore, "Hipnos" turns out to be a rather insufficient thriller from a narrative point of view and especially in terms of cinematic entertainment, although it redeems itself on a technical level and, in part, artistically. However, it is a clear imitation product, and if compared to the prototypes of the Iberian thriller of recent years, it proves to be drastically inferior. The rating has been rounded down.