Possession (1981)
Directed by Andrzej Zulawski

Film Review

Possession must surely rate as one of the most gory and shockingly anarchistic horror films made in the 1980s (which is saying something - this was after all the decade of the so-called 'video nasty'). The film has certainly lost some of the impact which won it instant notoriety on its initial release in 1981 but it remains a palpably bizarre and unsettling cinematic experience, alternating between the patently ridiculous and the down-right disturbing.

It is the work of Polish writer-director Andrzej Zulawski, who used the film to vent his only personal angst following his ill-treatment by the authorities in his own country.  The film was financed by a French production company and made in West Germany, in the shadow of the famous Berlin Wall.  The film was made in English, with a cast of many nationalities including the New Zealander Sam Neill (most famous for playing the adult Damien in the third of the original Omen films, The Final Conflict (1981)) and French diva of stage and screen Isabelle Adjani - a truly international production.  Previously, Zulawski had garnered considerable acclaim for his earlier French language film, L'Important c'est d'aimer (1975).

With its excessively over-the-top acting performances and unashamedly pretentious dialogue, the film has attracted a great deal of negative criticism.  It is certainly not a film which will appeal to the majority of cinema-goers and it should probably not be watched as a serious piece of drama. Possession is so wrapped up in its artistic excesses that it quickly becomes unravelled if any attempt is made rationalise it or relate it to conventional cinema.

This is a unique work of undiluted adolescent fantasy, a chaotic, incomprehensible voyage into mental disintegration and rampant insanity.  The film is certainly harmed by its unbridled excesses - the over-acting is so outrageous that it is almost obscene, the scenes of bloody self-mutilation and murder are closer to Grand Guignol than horror, and the writing is often so bad that you often have the impression that the actors are making up their own dialogue whilst under the influence of some powerful narcotic substance.  To set against all this, the film has some moments of pure genius, such as the chilling scene where the private detective uncovers Anna's secret, and, of course, the film's extraordinary nightmare ending.

Despite the negative press, the film won a brace of prestigious awards, including (astonishingly) a best actress award at Cannes and a César for the lead actress Isabelle Adjani.   The one area where the film genuinely does impress is in the quality of the special effects - although the multi-tentacled monster appears only briefly on screen, it is certainly on a par with anything produced by the best science-fiction films. Possession is a desperately flawed work of undisciplined artistic genius, but, despite its very visible failings, it retains a certain inexplicable appeal. Like Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream, it digs its stiletto heels into the subconscious and leaves a lasting impression that somehow overrides one's gut reaction to dismiss it as pretentious pap.

Film Synopsis

Marc returns from an assignment to his home in Berlin and discovers that his relationship with his wife Anna is crumbling.  From one of her friends, he discovers that Anna has been having an affair with another man, Heinrich, an eccentric philosopher.  After a violent row, Anna walks out on Marc, returning briefly only to taunt her husband.   Convinced that Anna is staying with a secret lover, Marc hires a private detective to follow her.  The truth is more gruesome and bizarre than he can ever have imagined.  Anna is in the power of a malign alien influence, and to protect her secret she is prepared to kill...