POSSESSION (1981)

3 stars

Second Sight Films. Limited Edition UHD and Blu Ray. Plus straightforward release. 15th December.

Mark (Sam Neill) and Anna (Isabelle Adjani) are a married couple with a young son Bob, who live in Berlin overlooking the wall. She wants a divorce and leaves their offspring with her husband and goes off to her friend Margie (or does she?).

Mark believes she is having an affair with Heinrich (Heinz Bennent) and confronts him. When he returns to the flat Anna is there with their son and they have a violent argument, leading to his wife leaving again. Her behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic.

Mark hires a private detective to follow Anna – but may not like what he discovers. His wife is having a fling but not with who he thinks. She goes to a seedy, run down apartment and is having a relationship with a strange tentacled creature (the monster was created by Carol Rimbaldi)…

An arthouse horror which is very gory at times – this is one for the BFI/Sight and Sound crowd which will likely leave most horror fans perplexed by what is going on. Helmed by Polish director Andrzej Żuławski (his only English language film) and written by him and Frederic Tuten, it was penned during the director’s divorce from actress Małgorzata Braunek. He clearly poured his anger into this often brutal film. It is the sort of enigmatic production that leaves you with more questions than answers. What is the monster? Is it significant that it is set in a divided Berlin? Why does Bob’s teacher look almost identical to Anna (she is also played by Adjani)? What is the point it is making? I’ll leave it to better brains than I to fully understand it.

That being said Adjani gives an incredible, award winning performance as a woman going mad. Neill on the other hand is somewhat more mannered and, as one of my friends pointed out to me, looks like he has wandered in from another movie and isn’t sure what the hell is going on.

If you are a fan you will want this new release from Second Sight which looks amazing and is a producer approved 4K restoration with a whole bunch of great extras.

EXTRAS

The North American Re-edit: newly restored from an archive print

Audio Commentaries by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Alison Taylor/by Director Andrzej Żuławski moderated by Daniel Bird/by Frederic Tuten moderated by Daniel Bird/by Daniel Bird and Manuela Lazic (The North American Re-edit)

The Horror of Normality: Guillermo del Toro on Possession

The Shadow We Carry: Kat Ellinger on Possession

Repossessed: The Film’s UK and US Reception

Andrzej Żuławski: Director: archive documentary

A Divided City:  The Berlin locations

Interviews with Composer Andrzej Korzynski/with Producer Christian Ferry/Archive interview with Andrzej Żuławski

Basha: a featurette on poster artist Barbara ‘Basha’ Baranowska

The Other Side of The Wall: The Making of Possession

Deleted Scenes

Theatrical Trailer

With the limited edition you also get:

Rigid slipcase with Basha’s original theatrical artwork

220-page hardback book with new essays by Daniel Bird, Elena Lazic and Alison Taylor, ‘The Creature: Preliminary Sketches’, ‘Filming Possession’, ‘The Poster of Possession’, pressbook feature, archive articles and interviews and Behind the Scenes gallery

211-page original shooting script book with notes by Andrzej Żuławski and Frederic Tuten