DIRECTOR: ANDRZEJ ZULAWSKI
STARRING: ISABELLE ADJANI, SAM NEIL, HEINZ BENNENT
Andrzej Zulawski’s 1981 masterpiece ‘Possession’ is a film of surreal complexity meant to accurately mirror the myriad of emotion and inexplicable powers with which we face the dissolving relationships in our own lives. For Zulawski, ‘Possession’ was a way of exorcising his demons and banishing the grief of his recent divorce. Far from a traditional exposition of separation, the film utilizes the ‘grotesque’ as a metaphor to portray various aspects of the plagued characters. Isabelle Adjani stars opposite a gaunt Sam Neil, in a tour de force role that garnered her the best actress award at Cannes Film Festival that year. Adjani admitted that her role as Anna/Helen had a considerably draining effect on her psychologically, and after watching the picture, one hasn’t any doubt as to why.
Zulawski’s Possession at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival
‘Possession’ is a film that defies classification, and a synopsis would prove futile in capturing its bizarre essence. Initially deemed a UK Video Nasty, Zulawski’s work features some memorable special effects by Carlo Rambaldi (Alien, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.) in a creature that precedes Carpenter’s ‘The Thing (1982),’ by one year. Dismissing a linear progression, the film is a collage of drizzling rain, bleak skies and solemn edifices. Scenes of muted blues and grays convey Possession’s mood of repressed anguish and psychological estrangement.
Zulawski’s ‘Possession’ is a criminally under-seen masterpiece that rests among the greats in the upper echelons of cult cinema. Recently touring in a new restored print, it has received some moderate revival, but remains a picture that has been regretfully overlooked. ‘Possession’ is a modern meditation on the feral beasts imprisoned within us all, and for fans of Cronenberg’s ‘The Brood (1979),’ is an essential viewing.
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