Amy Adler Ben (Colin Firth) is in a coma at a London hospital. He wakes to find that his wife has died in the same horrific accident that injured Ben. Not only that, the funeral is long over and there is only a video of the proceedings. Needing to change his life completely, Ben finds an apartment in a former hospital undergoing renovations. In the basement, there is an empty morgue, where patients who died were kept until arrangements were made. Ick. Overseeing some of the remodeling is Ben's neighbor, Charlotte (Mena Suvari). She is young and beautiful, a good distraction for Ben. But, something is amiss. For one, Ben thinks he spies his ex-wife, Elisa (Naomie Harris) on the street, more than once. Well, well. Also, a detective comes to see Ben, telling the widower he is a possible suspect in the murder of a singer. Well, well, again. Ben is also seeing a psychiatrist, hoping to work his way through his grief. But, is Ben a murderer, going crazy or what? This is quite a good thriller, not especially bloody, but more of mental horror show. Firth is terrific as the conflicted, complex Ben, while Suvari, Harris and all of the other cast members are great, too. The old hospital setting, complete with plastic, remodeling curtains that sway and the basement morgue, is absolutely creepy. Script and direction are appropriately full of twists and turns. However, the ending is a bit confusing, resulting in this viewer having to read others' plot summaries to fully understand its meaning. If you like thrillers and/or Firth, do add a little "Trauma" to your life soon.

mirbass It appears as if audiences either love or hate this film. For those people who hate it, the major complaint seems to be that they found the movie confusing and disjointed - and this is a completely understandable statement, given that the main aim of this film is to present a story as seen through the eyes of someone who has a fractured mind.A very brief synopsis: The movie opens with a series of flashbacks, introducing us to the main character, Ben (Colin Firth). Ben awakens from a week-long coma only to discover he has lost his wife in the very same car crash that put him in the hospital in the first place. Whilst recovering in hospital, he also learns that an R'n'B diva has been brutally murdered, and he soon finds himself obsessed with the details of her grisly murder. He moves into an apartment complex -- an old hospital currently undergoing renovations -- and meets his landlord, the sweetly innocent Charlotte (Mina Suvari). Soon after, Ben's grip on reality begins to loosen as he tries to piece together what happened to his wife and uncover the suspicious reasons behind his obsession with the murdered diva.I own this movie on DVD, & have watched it multiple times. It never ceases to mesmerise, even though I know how the story plays out. The acting is quite good, although Mina Suvari's character can come across as a little wooden at times. Colin Firth is such a quality actor, and he does a brilliant job here convincing us of his tortured-soul status, in a role quite different from his usual 'just-a-normal-guy' routine. In fact, I think his 'just-a-normal-guy' reputation is actually part of what makes this film so creepy - because his character is clearly not 'normal'.When watching this movie viewers should keep in mind that this story is told *entirely* through the viewpoint of a man whose own view of the world is fractured. We, the audience, are given no "life raft" points of view from the other characters in the story. And this is one of the reasons why this movie is so brilliant: the story-telling is disjointed, because the main character's own thought processes are disjointed and non-linear. The editing and cinematography are an important part of the story-telling, featuring jump-cuts, unique camera angles & the use of reflections to depict a shattered perspective on reality. Metaphors & red herrings abound and soon the audience - like Ben - is left wondering what is real and what is all in Ben's mind.

gavin6942 Awaking from a coma to discover his wife has been killed in a car accident, Ben's world may as well have come to an end...The focus of this film is Ben (Colin Firth), whose world is a bit of a shambles. He does not always know what he knows, or may see things he does not really see. Unfortunately for me, I do not feel the film made this clear enough to really get a handle on.The most disappointing thing about this film is the lack of Mena Suvari. She is on the cover, and is the reason I picked up the title. But, you know, she is in it less than a quarter of the time. That let me down. She needed more speaking parts, and not just because Firth's accent is too thick at times.

mario_c Trauma is psychotic thriller that grabs you in suspense and mystery until the end. It's about paranoia, obsession and loneliness, and its result is a complex mix of thoughts, images, illusions, sounds, nightmares and negation of reality!The plot is a bit complex to follow, because it has some twists, but it all begins with a guy in a Hospital awaken from a coma. All he knows, all he can remember, is that he had a car crash, his wife died in the accident and he was the one who was driving when the car crashed. So he feels angry with himself and guilty about his wife's death. But did really things happen as he thinks they did? At the same time the TV news are constantly relating the death of a star singer who was brutally murdered a few days ago. Is there any connection between these two deaths? Step by step we start discovering that this guy is just a bit paranoid and that something is not alright!Trauma is intense; it has mystery, suspense, action, complex plot, it has all ingredients to be a great thriller flick. It has also a good acting (not superb, but good enough, especially from the leading actor, Colin Firth, which plays the main character: Ben), and some good visual effects too. We can watch them especially in the nightmares/paranoia scenes.But I must say the end disappointed me a little bit, because by the rhythm the movie was going I was expecting a much more intense ending. Even so, it was a great thriller flick, one that makes you think, and one in which things are not as they seem they are at the first sight!