Possession

Second Sight

R2 DVD

Andrzej Zulawski is an enigmatic Polish filmmaker who makes films which shock and challenge. Never far away from controversy his work is marked by an intensity of emotion coupled with a brutal honest and a unique sense of style.

Possession (1981) is one of his most bizarre and unusual films, starring Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill. It is science fiction horror which is both haunting and controversial. Originally caught up in the “video nasty” row it was banned for many years not only for its high level of gore but for its subject manner which includes everything from self-mutilation and sex to madness.

The film is set in Berlin where Mark (Sam Neill) is a government agent who has just returned from an assignment. He is debriefed and looks forward to relaxing at home. When he returns home he finds things have drastically changed. Anna, his wife (Isabelle Adjani) has left him for another man, Heinrich. He searches out Heinreich and confronts him only to find that Anna has left him as well and moved onto another relationship. This new relationship, however, is quite different. It seems that Anna, driven by madness and rage, has given birth to a strange many-tentacled creature with which she now makes love many times a day. The creature also needs to be regularly fed, so she is driven to kill to keep it alive.

For the sake of their young son Mark attempts to save the marriage but Anna is impossible to reach. After a private investigator finds the evidence he needs he confronts Anna and her monstrous lover who strangely seems to be transforming into a doppelganger of Mark. Things get even more complicated as Mark becomes interested in his young son’s teacher Helen who seems to look a lot like Anna (not surprising as they played by the same actress). Soon the walls of sanity begin to fall apart for all concerned.

Certainly the most controversial aspect of the tale is the dark and confronting sexual imagery used as Anna and the creature have their trysts. The problem is that it would be too easy to become focused on the “octopus” sex (which has resonances with the horror tales of H.P Lovecraft) and not see the symbolism which structures the film. This is a tale which has layers upon layers of symbolism and imagery ranging from the interpersonal and psychological to the mystical and esoteric.

Certainly it is a film with a strongly “European” sense of style. It is filled with intense emotions, sexuality and disturbing imagery. The cinematography is superb and the special effects used to create the slimy creature very convincing. The film may have been made quite a long time ago but the creature still is rather disturbing and the mood created extremely claustrophobic.

Possession is a startling experience and Second Sight have done a great job bringing a superior copy to DVD.

Extras include The Other Side of the Wall on the making of Possession, an interview with Andrzej Zulawskiu and a photo gallery.

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