Possession

UK Release Date. 27 May 1981
Certification. 18
Running Time. 2 hours 4 mins
Director. Andrzej Żuławski
Cast. Isabelle Adjani, Heinz Bennent, Sam Neill.
Rating. 55%

Review.

Over the years, Andrzej Żuławski's Possession has garnered a reputation. At the time of release, the film was banned in the UK because of the graphic and disturbing content, and allied with Żuławski's unique directorial style and an enigmatic and multi-layered plot, Possession is a challenging watch.

Belonging to a subgenre of psychological horror including the likes of Roman Polanski's Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby, Dario Argento's Suspiria and David Cronenberg's The Brood, Possession is the type of film that could only be made in Europe. The film's influence extends to a lineage that contains more contemporary offerings, the likes of Lars von Trier's Antichrist, Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and Darren Aronofsky's Mother!

In short, Possession is a story about divorce. When Mark (Sam Neill) returns home from an extended work trip, his wife, Anna (Isabelle Adjani) informs him that she has been seeing someone else and needs some time apart. But Possession is unlike any other story about divorce. Yes, the film addresses the intense emotions of being cheated on, the guilt involved in breaking up the family and the dichotomy of desire in wanting normalcy juxtaposed with the allure of wanting excitement that someone else may bring, but few films have ever exposed the dark side of relationships turned sour with such brutal intimacy. Most of the arguments and violent outbursts occur in the apartment shared by the family. The camera places us directly into these exchanges, in the awkwardly confrontational situation of a third-person in the room who desperately wants to escape the presence of such seething fury. Żuławski wrote the screenplay, with some assistance from Frederic Tuten, while he was going through a traumatic divorce from the actress Malgorzata Braunek. Possession strikes a raw nerve. Clearly, the director was working through some issues at the time.

There is no denying the film is incredibly well crafted. The cinematography by Bruno Nuytten is wonderful to look at, even when there’s something repugnant on the screen. The film also greatly benefits from its location. Filmed in Berlin, in the midst of the Cold War, Possession is full of shots of a bleak and austere cityscape.

To some extent, the performances of Sam Neill, Isabelle Adjani and the assembled cast define Possession. The electricity of the performances are off the scale, and it soon becomes apparent that the director did not demand rational, realistic performances, but something far more extreme. Yet despite the excesses on display, the camera records the unfolding events with unflinching and unflattering authenticity. The tone is deadpan serious. Adjani, in particular, delivers an extraordinary, emotionally-draining visceral performance unlike any other. In one, now infamous scene, Adjani produces one of the most disturbing and physically intense scenes of pure and utter madness I've ever seen. A dervish of unrestrained emotion and pure sexual terror, as she literally miscarriages faith in a pool of blood, milk and mucus in a Berlin U-bahn. 

Andrzej Żuławski's only English-language film is an experience - disturbing, harrowing, alienating, confounding and interminable. The film remains a provocative and compelling piece of cinema, a film that pushes the boundaries of genre, challenging its audience to confront the darker aspects of the human psyche. It is an extraordinary watch. In many ways overwhelming and one I'm not sure I would want to experience again.