POSSESSION (1981)
1981 film from Andzrej Zulawski starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani as a married couple living in Berlin and falling apart.
Berlin in the late cold war period is an inspired choice of setting for a film that is essentially a divorce picture, but addresses that issue at once head-on and metaphorically.
While the first half hour or so of the film deals directly with Adjani’s sudden departure form their marriage and the suspicion and strange behavior that attend the admission of infidelity, the film gradually takes on the characteristics of horror–gore, murder, doppelgangers, and strange creatures–until we’re left with quite another thing. It is clear, maddeningly so at times, that all this horror stuff is meant as a metaphor for the evil of sexual infidelity.
Possession is an entirely baffling experience, at times both frustrating and singularly satisfying.
It careens from horror film to chamber drama to arch European art film without the slightest concern for the audience’s sense of motion sickness.
In fact, the original US release was slashed by 45 minutes, from a 123 minute film (about a third by my math), which couldn’t have helped comprehension at all.
But it is oddly transfixing too; this may, of course, simply be because it is so odd, and that in itself is somewhat transfixing.
There seems more there though. Granted, the script is overstuffed with platitudes and agonizing howlers (with a straight face: “there is nothing to fear but God.” “God is a disease.”), and more left turns than straight shots, but it is that mania, that high-weirdness that makes it work.
At times, especially the Heinrich character, it does seem to be straining nearly to the breaking point, but catches itself just in time.
When the film ends, you may find yourself needing to catch your own breath and wishing you had taken notes to understand all of it, but with Possession, the literal level of understanding is the least interesting, the least satisfying. If that’s the only way you plan to look at the film, be prepared to dislike it, as many do. But if you’ll give a film a little latitude (let’s be frank: a lot of latitude) in the areas of plausibility, comprehensibility, and hammy acting, then what you’ll find in Possession is a nimble and inventive film, and one which deals with the agony of sexual betrayal and divorce–in its own way–more honestly than most Hollywood films.
DVD DETAILS:
Anchor Bay release with a Mario Bava film (Shock) on the flip side of the disc. Tranfer’s clean enough and the special features are bare bones, Director’s Commentary and a couple of trailers. Might have been exciting to see the 80 minute, bowdlerized US release on the other side, for comparison’s sake.
HDFEST RATING:
Overall: B+
Acting: B
Originality: A
Enjoyability: B
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