Possession [DVD] [1981]

Doc Benway

at 3:40 am

Review by Doc Benway for Possession [DVD] [1981]
Rating: (5 / 5)
Possession is totally extraordinary.

Packed with symbolism it can be read on so many possible levels of interpretation it’s bewildering.

Set in a European city (obviously Berlin during its partition) in an alienating mixture of ultra modern buildings and decaying grandeur, visually it evokes a sense of dislocation. The plot can’t easily be summarised without foretelling too many of the surprises the film contains. Thematically, it seems to be a study of a marriage in the last phase of destruction, with Sam Neill returning from doing a mysterious job (spying?) and meeting his wife played by Isabelle Adjani, whose agitated reaction to his arrival only hints at the deep levels of disturbance she enacts as the film progresses.

What follows is a nightmarish and surreal two hours of startling images, bizarre acting and frequent bloodletting.

If you liked Antichrist you will be interested to see a lot of similar themes in Possession – misogyny, madness, faith, evil and lust permeate a fractured dreamscape with a sustained and unique oddness.

I was put in mind of J.G. Ballard, William Burroughs, Polanski, Cronenberg and David Lynch, but Zulawski’s film is totally unique.

Possession was put on the banned list during the Video Nasties era, but don’t come to it expecting anything like any of the more exploitation films I’ve seen off the DPP 39, Possession is as challenging an art-horror as I’ve ever seen.

Highly recommended.

Now Zoltan

at 4:48 am

Review by Now Zoltan for Possession [DVD] [1981]
Rating: (4 / 5)
I’d love to know if David Lynch saw this film back in the early eighties and if so, what he made of it. I was struck by the amount of Lynchian tropes here – shifting identities, acting that veers from mannered to hysterical in an instant, disregard of narrative in favour of the symbolic, hell, even a pair of blue velvet curtains put in an appearance. As this was made in 1981, years before Blue Velvet and Lost Highway I figure it must have seeped into his subconscious somehow. I’m not complaining by the way, I love DLs films and I loved this, it looks amazing – brilliantly shot and hypnotic and it uses its Berlin setting wonderfully well. My only quibble – we could have lost some of the rambling, pretentious monologues and still retained the essential core weirdness of the film. Recommended (although not if you are seeking a gory horror – forget all that video nasty rubbish, the terror here is mainly of the cerebal variety)