Possession

WOW! That was something! Personally, I would have welcomed less theatrical performances, though I understand that it’s actually those expressive acting methods what make Possession what it is. The plot, on the other hand, should be taken as some sort of metaphor, because, especially by the end, you’d be lost if you went for a straightforward understanding. I surely recommend it as an example of perfect movie madness. (04/26/2009)

A difficult film; difficult for the director and actors, but also for the audience and their willingness to dig deep into their minds and listen to the bizarre-sounding song Andrzej Zulawski cheerfully sings to them. It's hard to just click the mouse and rate something so artistically sophisticated but at the same time uncomfortable and aloof due to its openness and complexity of thought. How do you rate a film that blends chilling mystery horror with a fairly realistic depiction of a family falling apart, where the characters often behave as if they fell out of a David Lynch dream, and where the story is constructed in such a way that, despite the normal chronological composition, the viewer still doesn't know which one is beating 10 minutes before the end? The answer is: unequivocally positive. No review can ever do justice to the precision and depressing effect of Zulawski's direction, the gloomy and perfectly underscoring music, the tireless camera circling hungrily around the room, and finally, the fabulous performances of Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, without whom something like this could never have been made. Possession is one of those films that I may never watch again, but I'm really, really glad to have successfully completed that one screening. To miss such an experience would have been a great shame. (07/31/2013)

Possession is like a knife piercing the heart, which Andrzej Żuławski slowly turns. This multi-layered horror movie unsettles the audience, takes them out of their comfort zone, and shows the extremes of the human psyche as movies so rarely do. The performances of Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill are truly eccentric, teetering on the brink of a mental breakdown. Żuławski delivered a truly chilling and fucked-up vision of a relationship between a couple disintegrating in a hard-to-stomach, impressive and unforgettable work. Then there is the soundtrack! I am glad I had the chance to see Possession on the big screen with the subsequent commentary by Sam Neill in person afterwards, who was watching the movie again after almost 40 years, and said he remembered the making of the movie as the most extreme experience of his whole career. [Sitges 2019] (10/15/2019)