Possession

Possession (1981)

Runtime: 124 minutes

Directed by: Andrzej Zulawski

Starring: Sam Neill, Isabelle Adjani, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent, Johanna Hofer

From: Several companies from West Germany and France

I know someone who once saw this while high on cold medication; what an experience that must've been!

As the month winds down (and to be frank, starting in November I'll be happy to watch other genres again) and as always not everything I thought of watching at this time of year will come to fruition, it was finally time for me to watch this motion picture for discussion on Letterboxd. In addition, between this and Under the Silver Globe, I should check out more of director Andrzej Zulawski. He got into trouble more than once for his movies behind the Iron Curtain so having to move to France to work must have been heartbreaking for a variety of reasons. Then again, he DID get to have a much younger Sophie Marceau as a paramour for 16 years...

It is quite the ride for Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani; they are a couple in West Berlin whose marriage is experiencing a dissolution. He does espionage work so he's away and she starts having an affair. Sure, they have a son together so it's complicated but once Neill finds out, he doesn't take the news well... weird things happen and as it's mentioned in the opening credits, there is something known as The Creature, designed by Carlo Rambaldi. Possession is a VERY uncomfortable 2 hours (at least for me) as there's much in the way of intensity, yelling, arguing, & abusive behavior, then one person in the relationship becomes increasingly erratic. Then again, they aren't the only bizarre character the viewer gets to meet on this journey. BTW, the director apparently wrote the script while HE went through a divorce; it explains... well, not the WTF moments but why this is such a negative bitter movie you should never watch if you ever need to be cheered up.

This has plenty of subtext & metaphor which I won't even try to dive into; besides, quite a few here have written brilliant commentaries on what they think of the film's many messages. Instead I'll mention that for someone who has proclaimed more than a few times than weird abstract cinema isn't always for me, I'd be a fool to either deny the movie's attributes or the excellent job done by the director, the cinematographer (the camera often moves about frantically) or the composer. Some moments I'll never forget and the performances from the leads were tremendous; holy crap, that scene in the subway... unfortunately, that scene and others actually messed up Adjani pretty bad for several years but at least she recovered.

Ultimately, Possession is-to use an often said phrase by me-better seen than described. It isn't for everyone—besides the weirdness, oftentimes everything is cranked up to 11 but if you love the surreal then this is a must.