Possession (1981)

Director: Andrzej Zulawski
Writer(s): Zulawski and Frederic Tuten
Starring: Sam Neill, Isabelle Adjani, Margit Carstensen, and Heinz Bennent

Rarely in the annals of cinema history has such a hectic film been branded with such an unimaginative title. I’d imagine that many who had never heard of it would have simply scoffed it off and ignored it on video store shelves, images of an uninspired Exorcist ripoff dancing through their heads. But on the other hand, for those adventurous few that decided to pick it up anyway must have been in for a hell of a shock, because Possession is nothing like you would imagine it to be.

If you have stumbled on this blog looking for an explanation, or some kind of answer as to what it is they have just witnessed, or, if you have not yet seen it, what you should prepare for, I will save you the hassle of reading and just tell you to move along. Just as I long ago lost interest in trying to decipher cryptic, often personal lyrics in music, so too have I stopped wasting time attempting to decode the motives and inspirations of filmmakers. There’s absolutely no point to me. Some people can’t enjoy a movie unless they attempt to understand every single nuance of the film they just viewed--if that helps them to get involved, then that’s great--but I don’t like spending a lot of time searching for answers that just aren’t there, or can’t be readily verified.

In this case, all that director Andrzej Zulawski has revealed is that he wrote the screenplay for this film while he was going through a divorce. So then it is perhaps not surprising that divorce plays a pivotal role in Possession; as it opens, Anna wants a divorce from her husband, Mark. The weirdest part about it is that the change seems sudden—as far as Mark is concerned, they were doing just fine. He demands to know why, and after much hesitation, Anna finally reveals that she found another lover, Heinrich, whom she has been seeing for over a year.

From here, we go into the typical range of emotions that we expect to experience in a drama dealing with a crumbling relationship: Mark pays a visit to Heinrich and questions his own shortcomings that might have played a role in their downfall, while Anna toggles between her two lifestyles, one as wife and mother, and the other as lover in a relationship with newfound freedom. But then we go into territory that goes unexplored in most similar films, as Anna slowly starts to lose her grip on reality. She neglects her child and disappears for days at a time, while Mark tries to hold everything together as best as he can, including taking care of Bob, their young child.

She’s gone more and more frequently, leaving Mark to question her whereabouts. Where is she spending a majority of her time? Does she have more lovers than just Heinrich? He hires a private investigator to get to the bottom of this mystery; the PI follows Anna to an apartment building. He calls Mark to let him know Anna’s whereabouts, before gaining entrance to her place by posing as the building manager. But what he comes face-to-face with in her bedroom is something beyond description, and it’s the last thing he sees before Anna kills him.

You know what? I’m just going to stop with the synopsis right here, because none of it really matters. As I alluded to from the outset, there’s really no possible way to tell exactly what’s going on: there are killings and creatures, and Mark even has an affair with a woman that looks exactly like his wife (and is, in fact, also played by Adjani). The movie often feels like a series of interconnected dreams, with only a vague resemblance to real life. The tradeoff is that this movie is pretty unpredictable, with the menacing, surrealistic atmosphere that would have been impossible to obtain with a more traditional narrative. Its ambiguity is also a big reason that it has any sort of fan base at all, with people still attempting to analyze every little detail. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that it also has, quite possibly, one of the greatest single acting performances of all time.

Sam Neill is just fine as Mark, the estranged husband, but the centerpiece of Possession is the jaw-dropping performance from Isabelle Adjani. Apparently, the facts state that shortly after this film was completed, Adjani suffered a nervous breakdown, and rumors persist to this day that it was the requirements from playing the character of Anna that pushed her over the edge. She has never verified or denied this, at least not that I could find, but just watching her completely envelope her character, going far beyond the call of duty, it’s easy to believe that it’s a strong possibility. Her Anna spends a good majority of the film losing her mind, screaming at her poor husband for the smallest of offences, and slowly losing her grip on reality.

It’s a strong, all-around performance. But it can all be summed up in one (in)famous scene in which she “miscarries” (whether it’s figurative, or literal—or both—within the confines of the story is another matter) all alone in a subway. The build-up, in which she screams, and writhes, and crawls all over the dirty floor is an epic one-woman show in and of itself, to speak nothing of the shocking way the scene ends. It also functions as the perfect introduction to this film: If you watch the clip and are still intrigued, you will probably like Possession a great deal. If you can’t make it all the way through, well, it’s probably good advice to stay far away. 

Because things get even weirder than that.

RECAP: Isabelle Adjani’s unbelievable performance, which just may be one of the greatest performance of all time, is the centerpiece of this surrealistic nightmare from director Andzrej Zulawski (RIP). The face-value “storyline” is simple, and concerns a husband desperate to find out what’s causing his wife to slowly go mad, but it’s completely obvious there’s much more to it than that. If you enjoy analyzing movies down to the final detail, this would be a great pick for you, whereas anyone that enjoys a more straightforward narrative will end up lost and/or frustrated. I’ll end this on a word of warning: Don’t be fooled by its simple, unimaginative title. It’s not a typical possession flick (if it even is at all), and only gets weirder and weirder as it rolls along.

RATING: 8/10

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