Possession

This was on the DPP's list of 72 'video nasties' but was on the second half of the list, the ones that were dropped or successfully appealed against their branding as 'obscene' and has not been released on DVD in the UK until now.

Andrzej Zulawski, who wrote the original story, screenplay and directed the film, is hardly the most prolific filmmaker around and has had to move around Europe from his native Ukraine to Poland and France (and back again) in order to make films that he wants to make free from governmental interference.

Possession is set in East Germany where Anna and Mark's marriage has not only broken down but has become a psychological battle punctuated by screaming matches, physical beatings and self-mutilation. After going through their belongings, Mark believes that Anna is having an affair with a German national called Heinrich who he targets for revenge, not realising that Anna has another apartment in the city which is extremely run down and where a weird, tentacled creature lives with whom Anna is having a passionate affair.

This is where things get extremely weird because Anna is being followed by someone from the company of private investigators for whom Mark used to work and, when he gains access to her apartment pretending to be the landlord's representative who has had complaints of breaking windows, Anna stabs him in the neck and 'feeds' his corpse to the creature in the bedroom.


From the outside, Anna is a happy, clean and beautiful woman who shares custody of her son with Mark (although he does the majority of the childcare, having resigned from his job and taken a huge payoff) but there is something deeply wrong with her and she is prone to violent mood swings, self harm and thrashing around laughing maniacally in an underpass before suffering a miscarriage.

This scene has sparked controversy around the world and been cut in every location except Germany yet the BBFC has passed Possession uncut, noting that it contains 'strong violence, sex and horror' but it does seem as if the controversial miscarriage scene has been pre-cut.


Possession features remarkable performances by Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani, perhaps the best of their careers, and the work by Carlo Rambaldi, a man perhaps best known for his incredible work on films like Deep Red and creating the titular characters for Alien and ET: the Extra Terrestrial is so disturbing and frankly bizarre that it adds another dimension to the film making it as much a body shock horror (like the early work of David Cronenberg) as it is a psychological horror/thriller.

Zulawski proves to be a remarkable film maker if this is anything to go by and, though it may seem a bit odd that the DPP took exception to the film in 1984 (along with a number of movies that really shouldn't have been the subject for the Obscene Publications Act), it is a film that is extremely hard-hitting and psychologically unsettling and is really only for those who can 'handle' the more extreme horror films.

The Disc

Extra Features
'The Other Side of the Wall' - The Making of Possession (51:38) is a film by Daniel Bird featuring contributions from Andrzej Zulawski, producer Marie-Laure Reyre plus cinematographer Bruno Nuytten. Although there isn't any B-roll footage, the contributors all seem to remember the shoot as if it was yesterday and give detailed responses to all the questions.

The interview with Andrzej Zulawski (36:06) is probably one that was made for French TV (TF1, to be precise) and is conducted in French even though Zulawski speaks English. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating and information packed piece that is well worth watching for fans of his work.


The Picture
For a film nearly 30 years old and one which hasn't been released on DVD before, Possession looks extraordinarily good with deep contrast levels, good colours (when there are any) and a consistently sharp picture with only slight hints of aliasing and ghosting. It is, however, quite soft with far from definite edges which makes it prone to the occasional colour bleeding.

Generally, the film is very muted with lots of greys, blacks and dark colours so the wardrobe reflects the landscape and add the general sense of dread, unease and barely contain tension.

The creature design, by renowned artist Carlo Rambaldi is extremely well executed with a thoroughly disturbing creation which is managed to last the test of time and is still pretty disquieting nearly 3 decades on.


The Sound
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is generally very clear with Sam Neil doing his best to disguise his Australian accent and trying to sound English, doing a very good James Mason impersonation in the process! The sound design is absolutely first-class, moving from quiet and creepy so loud and outright terrific.

The sound design and score really helps with the creature, making it even more disturbing than it otherwise would be and, when Anna has the miscarriage in the underpass, the silence that allows Isabelle Adjani's vocal talents to come to the fore make a performance even more powerful.


Final Thoughts
Earlier this year, I saw Lars von Trier's Antichrist, a film that was particularly disturbing and with a career-best performance by Charlotte Gainsbourg but my enthusiasm was tempered slightly by a slight sense of misogyny in the screenplay. Possession is everything that Antichrist is, and more, without the feeling of misogyny and with an absolutely incredible performance by the female lead. It is a deeply disturbing and intelligent exploration of a relationship in distress and psychological breakdown.

There is probably (and, perhaps, almost certainly) things in the film that I missed on first viewing and I will need to watch it a couple more times in order to absorb everything in the performances and the dialogue. Possession is an extremely rich film with so much going on that it is quite difficult to soak everything up on first viewing.

The content ensures that this isn't for everyone but, for horror fans, this is a release not to miss.