[Blu-Ray] FILM REVIEW: Possession

Possession - Second Sight Limited Edition 4K UHD/Blu-ray New Release Review

Director: Andrzej Żulawksi

Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennett

Written by: Andrzej Żulawski, Frederic Tuten

Produced by: Marie-Laure Reyre

Cinematography by: Bruno Nyutten

Original Score by: Andrzej Korzynski

Synopsis:

A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.

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Visually spectacular and emotionally captivating, 'Possession' is the type of film that, as the title suggests, takes over your entire body while you watch it. It demands that you give everything up to it whether you like it or not. It is a painful film to get through but it might be the most overlooked masterpiece of the last five decades.

Inspired by his own divorce, Żulawski has crafted an almost autobiographical, claustrophobic, unsettling and very Eastern European film about a husband and wife going through a turbulent break up with unthinkable, sinister circumstances.

Sam Neill stars as Mark, an international spy who returns home to his wife Anna in their Berlin apartment block after a successful mission. But something is amiss. Their marriage, it seems, can't be saved. Although Mark wants to try, Anna has clearly shut herself off from him. It's then revealed that she is having an affair and Mark decides to move out. However after visiting their son Bob and realising that Anna has left him alone, Mark takes custody and moves back into their apartment, while Anne finds her own accommodation in a run down, abandoned building full of empty rooms and dirty walls. What starts out as a gritty drama soon turns into a psychological thriller and then a gross out body horror reminiscent of the great David Cronenberg.

"What's happening to us is just natural. Feelings change. But without you I wouldn't feel anything at all."

As Anna, Isabelle Adjani gives one of the most physically and mentally unhinged performances you're ever likely to see onscreen and Sam Neill is also phenomenal as her husband Mark, who drifts back and forth from sympathetic lover to abusive madman. Weirdly although both Adjani and Neill play their parts super seriously, there are alot of scenes that are totally absurd and their performances are very theatrical and over the top when they need to be. Both Adjani and Neill really are mesmerising.

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The film had a long and lasting impact on both Adjani and Neill because of the physical demands, which had extreme mental implications. The subway scene alone, which was mostly all one take, was filmed at 5am on a cold morning but there's so many other scenes that demanded physicality. Mark and Anna are constantly at odds with each other and often throw hands. And in one case Anna attempts to cut her own throat with an electric meat slicer. Interestingly enough, after stopping her, Mark then uses the slicer to cut his own arm, so there's a feeling that Mark is trying to always outdo his wife but also in some way trying to feel what she is feeling. Remember the line "without you I wouldn't feel anything at all."

Deep down it's also a very sad film. Żulawski chooses to use lots of blue hues, both dark and pastel shades. It's an indication that both characters are in a constant state of sorrow and depression. Even Anna's infamous blue dress, which she wears for most of the film, is in perpetual disrepair, shadowing her own mental condition. I love how the film is shot. It was filmed mostly on location in a divided Berlin so at times it has a documentary feel and look to it.

The film is full of incredibly unforgettable sequences. Everybody always talks about the subway scene in which Anna completely looses her mind and her body convulses in screaming agony, foaming at the mouth and bleeding from between her legs. Surely one of the most impactful scenes in the history of cinema? But the other scene that absolutely turns me is the found footage film reel where Anna is teaching in her ballet class and she essentially abuses one of the young girls. It's excrutiating to watch because Adjani often glances straight to the camera while she is making the young student painfully contort her legs and back. It says a lot about what Anna is going through.

I had only seen 'Possession' once before and I think it may have been a cut version but this Second Sight release really is something to behold. Even though I had watched it before it was like rewatching it for the first time. This release includes the US re-edit which is a severely cut version that restructures the original directors cut. An attempt to make it more "traditional" horror for US viewers. There is a vast difference in that a lot of scenes are shaved for time but also some scenes are moved around which give it a slightly different feel. The ballet scene I mention above appears at the beginning of the film and isn't delivering the correct context of it being a film reel within the film. It comes across as breaking the fourth wall with Anna communicating with the viewers which isn't the context of the director's cut.

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With four audio commentaries, two of which are brand new and a bunch of other amazing features, there's plenty to dive into once you finish watching the film which will help you identify the many themes present. One of the themes that is very obvious is that of duality and schizophrenia. Adjani also plays Bob's teacher Helen who in a way is Mark's perfect version of his wife. And then towards the finale of the film, the tentacled monster that has a hold on Anna evolves into a human being that looks like Mark, presumably Anna's perfect version of her husband. It's quite a poetic ending, albeit very chaotic and shocking.

'Possession' is a must see film with two of the greatest and most heartbreaking performances I've ever seen. No wonder Adjani won Best Actress at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Żulawski's only English language film is haunting, beautiful, opaque, terrifying. Truly hypnotic. It's a film that requires discussion and multiple rewatches and will still likely have you asking questions afterwards.

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

-Gavin Logan

'Possession' is out on 4K UHD Limited Edition and Standard Bluray on December 15th. Available to PRE-ORDER now from www.secondsightfilms.co.uk