Contains some spoilers! With a script based on a best selling crime novel, a Hollywood director (Lasse Hallström), a big budget (SEK 61 million = almost USD 10 million), two star actors (Mikael Persbrandt and Lena Ohlin) you would think the result would be exceptional. It is. Exceptionally bad unfortunately. The peculiar murder story has so many plot wholes it becomes laughable. Trying to explain one will just tear up a new one. For example: What made the murderer follow his mothers instructions and murder his family? Why would a mother instruct her son to stab himself in the chest so that he almost dies? How did the mother get a job at the hospital? Why would the mother suddenly think the hypnotist's son is hers? Absolutely nothing is explained. The main character detective Jonna Linna is incredibly weak and dull. Almost nothing is revealed about his private life and absolutely no character development. Instead way too much time is spent on Mikael Persbrandt and Lena Ohlin's characters and their relationship, which is not relevant at all to the main story. The way the police acts is just stupid. Would the parents of a kidnapped son be allowed to come with the police to the kidnappers house? Would a police officer lower his gun when standing face to face with a kidnapper armed with a shotgun and responsible for the murder of several persons? I don't think so. Several supporting characters and plots are presented without any relevance to the main story. Trust me, this is a complete mess. The fact that this film was Sweden's foreign-language Oscar submission is nothing but a joke. The Oscar academy wisely did not nominate it.
Review of The Hypnotist
