"Black Circle" Hypnotizes
Or, don't listen to that strange vinyl you found.
⚫⚫⚫ (out of ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫)
Director: Adrian Garcia Bogliano
Screenplay by: Adrian Garcia Bogliano
Cinematographer: Dario Goldgel
Starring: Christina Lindberg, Felice Jankell, Erica Midfjäll, Hanna Midfjäll, Hanna Asp, Johan Palm, Hans Sandqvist
The 2018 Swedish film “Black Circle” (Svart cirkel) wasn’t really what I expected. (For starters, I thought it was a French movie going into it. No idea where I got that idea.) But it’s got a fascinating idea behind it and some artsy cinematography to back it up, so I ended up greatly enjoying it nonetheless.
The movie revolves around two sisters, one of whom discovers a record from the 1970s in an inheritance they’ve received. The vinyl is a self-help hypnosis sort of thing (technically, it’s called “magnetism” and differs from hypnosis in some ways), which one listens to as they’re falling asleep. The first sister, Isa, has already listened to it and suggests that the second sister, Celeste, do so, as Isa’s life totally changed after hearing it.
Unfortunately, Isa doesn’t realize just how much change listening to the record entails, because the magnetism process involves literally pulling out all of the negative stuff from one’s body, which then creates a doppelgänger. And that second self soon convinces itself that it’s the real version of a person, and depending on whose will is stronger, one of the selves will eventually take over the other.
Celeste has only listened to the vinyl a couple of times, and once she realizes something is wrong with Isa, she tracks down the woman who released the record and takes Isa to see her. Now the question remains of whether the woman, along with the help of two mind-reading kids and some guy who formerly worked on this magnetism stuff, can actually help Isa regain herself.
The whole idea of pulling out one’s negative qualities and stuffing them into some kind of doppelgänger is intriguing (“Supernatural” actually had an episode on this), but “Black Circle” takes it a step further by creating a whole mythology around the idea. Basically, there’s this whole other plane of existence that psychics, mind-readers, etc. can connect to that hosts ancient gods, including something known as “the Supreme.” (I think; some of the background stuff got a little confusing at times.) Not everyone can connect to this plane, but during the magnetism process, they do, and that’s how the doppelgänger is brought into being. All of the background stuff is told via an old film of the experiments the woman and her group did back in the 1970s, which ends up having a lot of subliminal messaging. It was all very trippy and definitely fitting of the era.
And who among us hasn’t considered ripping out a negative quality we have? Probably not to stuff it into a second self, but losing a few of our minor bad habits would probably only improve life, right? Except, as “Black Circle” demonstrates, the positive and the negative are both required to balance a person out. Too much of one over the other makes the world topsy-turvy. Still, it’s a tempting idea, especially if, like me, one has a history of perfectionism.
The existence of a doppelgänger also raises the question of if there are two yous, and each is technically you, then which of them is real? Or the most real? Which you ends up being more powerful?
Beyond the truly interesting premise, “Black Circle” is gorgeously shot. You’d expect anything representing the 1970s to have a muted quality to it to show the difference between it and the modern era, but even the present-day scenes display muted colors and imperfections. It’s a fantastic way to tie the two eras together and demonstrate how the past is affecting the present. Plus, it simply looks beautiful. The filmmakers also create some phenomenal shots playing with light and shadow, particularly people’s shadows against the wall. After all, what is a shadow except another version of yourself?
Admittedly, the movie does get a bit slow here and there. This is definitely arthouse horror, not big and chaotic, but quiet and meandering, the kind of thing that leaves behind a vague sense of dread rather than a sense of fear. There were also a couple of characters that felt superfluous, specifically the mind-reading kids (I say kids, but they’re in their early 20s, maybe). I understand why they were there, but their addition felt more like it complicated the script than anything else.
“Black Circle” is an intriguing slow-burn of a horror film that won’t leave you afraid to turn the lights off at night, but it might make you reconsider whether your shadow is moving with you or on its own.
Is this streaming anywhere?