Hacker Cinema
Possession
1981 · Film · 124 min
Directed by Andrzej Żuławski
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.
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9 comments on Hacker News
One of my favorite horror films of the 1980s, Andrzej Żuławski's 1981 Possession.
One quote I heard about it, is that some movies are about madness, and other movies seem to be themselves mad, and Possession is one of those movies. It has this immediacy to it, and an unease that only grows in quantity and tenor. And you genuinely do not know where it is going. Believe me when I say this.
It might be Sam's most memorable performance, for me. The movie seemed to drive its entire cast and crew to exhaustion or worse.
Do not under any circumstances watch the old American cut, the initial release. It was re-edited with scenes out of order and has this bizarro solarization effect at random intervals. It's really really bad. The modern blu-ray and others have the actual movie.
If someone here likes horror movies I highly recommend watching his work in Possession (1981) and Mouth of Madness (1995).
If you prefer a more family focused comedy, go with Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), from the same director of the excelent What we Do in the Shadows.
Possession is such a fantastically special movie, heavily due to Neill and Adjani’s performances.
RIP to a real one.
I watched Possession (1981) a few weeks back. One of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen. His acting was so different from his later stuff.
Did a similar deep dive for one of the posters for the cult classic movie Possession (1981). Just giving random phone numbers a call is incredibly effective, lots of people are happy to reminisce about old work and have great stories.
I found my way to this page on your site:
https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/movies-set-in-berlin
There's a typo in the TOC. … is being rendered literally I'm guessing because the ampersand is escaped accidentally.
Also a few you might add to the list: Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), Possession (1981), Gotcha! (1985), Suspiria (2018), Undine (2020)
I'm reaching the conclusion that the Russkies just have a decidedly non-Western idea of femininity; hell, they used to seclude upper-class women in something called terem until the 17th century. Makes me half suspect Russia is a crypto-matriarchy and behind the scenes things are run by Putin's mom
The Żuławskian "evil woman" (Szamanka, Possession) is just so much more interesting as a character, as well as in terms of what her character implies about the world that made her as she is, than the Tarkovskian "mother-martyr" (and her imago form, the "maiden-miracleworker"). One is an incomprehensible embodiment of the most tragic and poetic traits of the individual, the other a temporary personification of an impersonal Motherland; so, besides different attitudes to womanhood, they also demonstrate vastly different views of personhood and the role of the individual in the grand scheme of living nature. It could be an artifact of the respective authors' personal upbringings and experiences - but as the Writer in Stalker explicitly notes, an author only becomes influential by virtue of reflecting something essential about their audience (which in this case would be initially limited to the respective ethnolinguistic communities).
Now contrast with the overarching message of contemporary Netflix-and-children style cinema. Absolutely fascinating! And quite important too - though nearly impossible to discuss.
It took Adjani years to recover from the emotional toll of that movie. If you’re ever thinking of watching a Gaper Noé film, don’t waste your time on that poser hack. Watch Possession instead. That subway tunnel scene… sheesh.
Oh man, there’s a new 4K restoration. I don’t know if I can handle a second watch.
The Polish film I’d recommend is Kieślowski‘s The Double Life of Veronique.
Since we're talking Polish cinema. I recommend 2 films from Andrzej Żuławski:
* Possession (1981) starring Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani. It starts out sort of like a relationship-gone-bad film then goes into a full-on crazy mode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah4Z1yIAoFM
* On The Silver Globe (1988) -- Unfinished sci-fi, super innovative, completely bonkers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Silver_Globe_(film)