The Hypnosis (2023)

Its Monday, you know what that means…time for another Mubi Monday review! This week we have a Swedish dark comedy which also happens to be a feature directorial debut. Let’s get right to it with…The Hypnosis (2023).

Title: The Hypnosis

Director: Ernst De Geer

Released: July 4, 2023 (Czechia – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)

Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes

Available to stream: Exclusively on Mubi

Vera (Asta Kamma August) and André (Herbert Nordrum) are a couple who also happen to be business partners. They’re working on a mobile app that could be used across the world to help promote and support female reproductive health. Now all they need to take the next step is to secure financial backing. Luckily for them, there is an upcoming summit that will be swimming with potential backers. Vera and André sign up for a workshop prior to the summit in order to fine tune their pitch.

Prior to the summit and workshop, Vera decides that she’s ready to take drastic measures to finally kick her smoking habit. Since no other method seems to work for her, Vera has landed on hypnotherapy. Despite the hesitation that it might be all woo-woo, she books her appointment and follows through. While it doesn’t work in terms of her quitting smoking, she leaves feeling different about herself.

At the summit workshop, while rehearsing their pitch together, Vera goes off-script. She doesn’t just improv a line or two, no, she goes way off script and makes it her own thing. To the surprise of André, it turned out to be a success. So much so, that when they were spoke of, Vera began to be the main focus. This is a devastating blow to André’s ego.

Going rogue during pitch rehearsal wasn’t the end of Vera’s newfound sense of self. She adopts an invisible chihuahua puppy and makes a public display of it. Later, she reaches over the hotel bar, grabs a wine glass, and pours herself a glass of milk.

André’s concerns are growing greater as the day to present their pitch draws nearer.

Will Vera be able to pull it together?

Or will their reputation go up in smoke?

In his feature directorial debut, Ernst De Geer looks to establish his style of dark comedy while focusing on the hustle culture of not just an industry, but an entire generation.

Love it or hate it, hustle culture is synonymous with the millennial generation. If you want to see it on full display, look no further than startup companies. In order to succeed you’re expected to fall in-line and act a certain way while devoting your life to working as much as possible.

Knowing that this was a comedy, I knew it was going to be a specific and possible awkward sort of humor. Boy was I right.

For me, this was my kind of weird. Not only are there times where you can see Vera and André feeling embarrassment because of a situation they’re in, there are times where I felt embarrassed for them. Regardless of which, there’s a dark humor on full display throughout.

It doesn’t go over the top, delivers a good message about being your true self, and puts Ernst De Geer on my radar.

The Hypnosis (2023) is certainly a movie that deserves at least one viewing.

So, if you have seen The Hypnosis (2023), what did you think of it?

Let me know your thoughts on it in the comments below or on social media!

As always, you can keep up with everything else I’ve been watching over on Letterboxd.