Review by Stephanie Scaife
Moderate spoilers ahead.
Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession has got to be one of the strangest, most compelling and hyperbolically hysterical films I’ve ever seen. Originally pitched as “a film where a woman fucks an octopus” by Żuławski, it’s understandable that it had trouble finding financial backing. Even Isabelle Adjani, who won the best actress award at Cannes for her role in the film, had to be asked multiple times before accepting the central part in the picture. Fortunately for fans of extreme cinema help came by the way of French producer Marie-Laure Reyre, and Żuławski’s surreal tale of the break-up to rival all break-ups started filming in West Germany in 1980.
It’s rather apt that the setting of the film is a Berlin neighbourhood a stones throw from the Wall as this is a film about division and separation, both literally and figuratively. The film starts with Mark (Sam Neill) returning home after a mysterious business trip to his wife Anna (Adjani) and their young son Bob. Almost immediately and inexplicably things turn sour between the couple, as she claims she needs to leave him but does not know the reason why. Allegations of adultery and hideous arguments that are almost unbearably vitriolic and violent, where they spit poisonous insults at one another, unrelentingly erupt with such savagery that I felt like I was going through the ringer with them. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Żuławski wrote the film not long after going through a painful divorce himself.
The downward spiral Mark and Anna find themselves on goes to some extreme places, not least of which the famous subway scene where Anna – under the direction of Żuławski to “fuck the air” – has a catastrophic breakdown that results in her miscarrying/giving birth whilst slimy indistinguishable fluids ooze from her every orifice. As her behaviour becomes more erratic and secretive, Mark hires a private detective to follow her, and what he uncovers is shocking and entirely unexpected. Holed up in a decrepit apartment she is nurturing a tentacled monster; a manifestation of her loneliness and despair made into a horrific reality. Despatching of anyone who she views as a threat to her new lover and ever declining into a pit paranoia, things escalate to a frenetic climax.
At turns a melodrama, body horror and towards the end something akin to a fantastical action film, Possession is an almost impossible film to classify. Mysteriously it was also one of the infamous video nasties of the 1980s, and remained unavailable in the UK for over a decade. Whilst being transgressive in its content, it’s not overtly or unnecessarily violent; it is essentially an art house film with echoes of Cronenberg and Polanski, and bears no resemblance to the likes of I Spit on Your Grave or Cannibal Holocaust.
Possession is a very tricky film to talk about. I think so much of it is open to the interpretation of the viewer, and even though I’ve seen it three times now I’m still not entirely convinced that I know what’s going on. That’s not to say that I don’t wholeheartedly recommend this film, which I absolutely do; it’s just that I wouldn’t want to presume that my ideas surrounding it are correct, nor would I want to plant any such ideas into the mind of someone who has yet to experience this film.
The Blu-ray edition looks fantastic and it comes with a host of absolutely fantastic bonus features including The Otherside of the Wall: The Making of Possession; Audio commentary with director Andrzej Zulawski; Repossessed – the film’s UK and US reception, the ‘video nasties’ furore and the US recut; A Divided City – The Berlin locations; The Sounds of Possession – Interview with composer Andrzej Korzynski and much more. Even if you’re not the sort of person who usually pays any attention to bonus features I’d highly recommend checking out Repossessed in particular, as the juxtaposition between the director’s cut and the US release is striking; it was almost 30 minutes shorter, and scenes were re-edited and dubbed with alternative sound effects and dialogue. Ultimately if you are a fan of the strange and the unusual and you have a tolerance for hysteria then you should absolutely seek this out.
Possession is out now on Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray from Second Sight.