I got a hold of this on DVD a while back when you mentioned it in another blog entry here on the site. Contrary to the situation in the UK, it has been available on DVD here in Sweden for a while now. I really liked the film and it has since become one of my favourites (not a first from a tip of yours). It is indeed twisted and difficult to unravel, what IS it about? I searched high and low for a version with the director's commentary, but when I found it I was disappointed to see that it didn't shed much light on the matter. Could it be an allegory for religious fanaticism?

I really enjoyed the film. i think it's about absuive relationships. Sam Neil is the right man for her yet she can't help but be drawn to this disgusting monster. So she has to create another character to be with him. It's like the sort of psychological break that happens in abusive relationships. I think the scream in the tunnel scene is brillant and I thinkl it incapilates the strangeness of the film. I think that the monster in it comes across as a leech.

Apparently there's a missing frame from all the DVD's releases (so far) where Isabelle Adjani’s character sees a pair of eyes in her miscarriage. It's only one frame but I would be interested to know if it’s in the new UK release or on the print the good doctor screened.

From Melon Farmers.



Passed 18 uncut for:



•UK 2010 Second Sight R2 DVD at UK Amazon for release on 25th October 2010



There are several versions around the world but this 118min PAL/123min NTSC version is attributed with the tag Director's Cut



"There is a rumour of a 5 minute cut to the octopus baby miscarriage on the metro. This appears to be false as the old VTC version is the same as the Dutch and French video releases as well as cinema prints. The director himself has stated that the birth scene does not last 10 minutes. A fair few scenes were cut during editing one of which clarifies what happens to Anna (Adjani). To the director's knowledge, none of these have ever made it to any release of the film."



Hope this helps.

Pooped it into my LoveFilm Rental List... Isabelle Adjani looks insane! and yet, still incredibly beautiful.

I was lucky enough to find one of the discontinued DVDs from the Anchor Bay release of the film for a fair price the first time you recommended the film and absolutely adore Possession to death. It's currently one of the most valued movies in my collection and has been lent out quite a few times already (with mixed results).



My question is, do you have MORE movies that you can recommend? Pretty please?

Oh, on interpretations: I'm pretty sure that Possession is pretty much just a film about divorce.

To all those with LoveFilm accounts: I had this on reserve after the Doctor recommended it. It has now just added itself to my rental list, indicating that it is now available to rent.

To answer boyland, the film is about abusive relationships, but I think that it is more than that.

As I got it, it was about how women can make monsters out of ordinary men. How, by abusing him, she slowly and gradually turns him to be a mess of a person. A monster like her.

She runs away from him and rejects him (to protect him? she's not even sure herself) but he just can't resist and he fights over their relationship. He wants to know what's gone over her and she shows him by taking him through an emotional ride that explains what she can't put down in words. She's only done after he was turned completely.



As I saw it the film just hammers you with metaphores supporting this. Also, I do beleive that anyone who ever dated a person with a personality disorder and saw this film will recognize many of the stages he was put through when watching Mark change.



Terrific film. Definately my all time favourite.

watched this film about a year and a half ago. didnt like it much and found it too ugly to watch and also I thought sam neill's acting was horrible as was the soundtrack and some of the editing. In fact a lot of the film was unintentionally funny like that german (?) guy in the clip above. Overall I thought the film was pretty much a pretentious bore. Love the scene with adjani in the train tunnel tho so might give this another go but i just found it too ugly to bother with first time and i generally like weird/disturbing films.

The Doc should be plugging the imminent Alien Anthology, which features TWO cuts of his superb Alien Evolution documentary!

So Sam Neill dies, then?



I've not been aware of Possession before, but the clip of the tunnel was very unnerving, even as short as it was. Must join LoveFilm!

Ah Nuts!

I had this weird feeling that I had mispelled something wrong in my comment above....I meant popped not pooped!

I'm just relieved that I didn't type rectal instead of rental!

So, all it takes is a brief mention on the Kermode blog and these films pop up on DVD after all this time? First Dougal and the Blue Cat, then Possession... Can the good Doctor use this power to help Altman's Secret Honor, Pinter's Betrayal and the Fitzcaraldo documentary Burden of Dreams become available on Region 2?



Anywho, Possession looks to be one of the oddest horrors imaginable - much more unsettling than Antichrist ever got for me. I can't wait to get it out on Monday.



Also, has Mark been watching Mark Gatiss' fascinating History of Horror, and as a horror buff like no other, what does he make of it? I've found it riveting, but what I know about horror wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp.

Recently watched Posession and like BILLYTHESKID I found it over acted (especially Sam Neill) and some of the dialogue was stilted and unintelligable. That being said, the director makes great use of the camera to emphasise disconnection between the warring couple and positional symmetry (the motif of someone on their knees looking up at someone else appears at numerous points). The scene in the ballet class where Adjani almost tortures one of her pupils (with added sexuality...) and THAT subway scene will both stick long in the memory, as will the ending, which had me googling furiously to see if anyone had the same thought as me as to what had happened! As for meaning? Well, the film was made in Berlin before the fall of the wall so while it has a lot to say about inter-couple relationships, I think it also has a lot to say about man's ability to divide populations and the consequences of doing so.



In other words, there is much here to be admired and I also recommend it highly!

@Touchfinder:



"I found it over acted (especially Sam Neill) and some of the dialogue was stilted and unintelligable."



It may just be me, but I had been under the impression that the acting was deliberately stagey to emphasize that they were caricaturing emotional states rather than playing people. Everything from the camerawork to the narrative flow and that the two leads don't seem to have much identity outside of being Husband and Wife imply that is what was happening.



I thought Adjani was particularly brilliant.

Are you still talking about this awful film. Get over it, it's shit.

Well it's on the way should get it Monday , I can see a double bill coming on with Antichrist



Z

Always good to see one of my favourite films get a new release. Hopefully the DVD will have some nice bonus features. The Spanish release I have now has nothing.



Imagine The Guardian not including this classic in their horror top 25!

Watched Possession before when Dr K mentioned it the last time on the blog. I didn't get it! So I watched it again a few days or so later ... still didn't get it (but I am now very wary of women with shopping bags in the underpass and men in pink socks!!!)



How many times do you persevere with a film you don't fully understand? Dr K watched Possession repeatedly and openly admits to not fully understanding it - however, does this add or detract from your 'enjoyment' of the film? I have watched other films that I didn't fully understand but still enjoyed... Possession however, no. Sorry.

If you get the chance to NEVER watch a film make sure it's Antichrist. What a pile of steaming doggy doo. Controversy, pah, just type in porn in any popular search engine. Willem's willy will never make a film.



If I get the chance I'll check out Possession, there was actually some real menace in the woman's eyes. If it's as awful as Antichrist I'm coming for YOU Mark to reclaim all my lost hours.

@TheZodiac: forget the double bill of Possession and Antichrist. You need to see Antichrist back to back with The Fantastic Mr Fox (if only to imagine Mr Clooney intoning "Chaos Reigns!"). On second thought, make it a triple bill, you'll need some light relief in the middle.

@21: Willem's willy will never make a film



Maybe it should get a new agent?

I managed to buy Possession on dvd from france after your last video about the film. this version seems to have a run time of 127mins which is longer than Stuart Yates quoted. unfortunatly i havent managed to finnish the film yet as i decided i needed to really be in the mood before watching it and so far i havent felt ready.

Hey Freddy_Jones! *waves*



Burden of Dreams is available on the 25th anniversary DVD edition of Fitzcarraldo. Do a search on Amazon, it's super cheap!



I've been looking forward to seeing this Possession movie ever since I first heard about it right hear on the blog. It sounds a bit Lovecraftian, and I think there should be more Lovecraftian movies.

Sorry, off topic comment, and I know I've posted it on the five-live website, but I think it's important to get this idea into the public domain and into the cinemas. I believe most cinema etiquette problems can be solved quite easily. One theory of personality is that the brain stimulation baseline for extroverts is set higher than introverts. Usually under-stimulated, extroverts constantly seek stimulation to get their neuro-chemicals up to optimal level (hence why they are party animals and have attention difficulties when stimulation levels are low, i.e., in a cinema, with the lights off, no talking, and when little action is happening on the screen). In said situations, extroverts are likely to adopt their normal strategies to assist concentration by chatting, texting, eating, fidgeting etc. Conversely introverts demand silence etc. because their brain chemistry is normally at baseline and any extraneous stimulation detrimentally affects their attention levels. Consequently most of these problems can be solved by having introvert/extrovert only screenings.

Never mind possession on DVD.Will The Devils uncut ever get a DVD

release?

I'm with you on The Devils, darkdreamweaver1. I remember catching the uncut version on TV once and I haven't seen it since. Surely there's some spurious anniversary that can be used to get a release sorted?

elkoolio01 - Interesting stuff there, though not sure how introvert/extrovert screenings would work. It would first of all rely on people knowing which one they were, or being able to admit which one they were, which is not always going to be the case. Then, you've got the problem of groups of friends, or outings or people wanting to go, in which there'll be a mix. It seems odd and impractical to segregate people in that fashion. And most of all, if the timing of these different screenings is not convenient for people of either type who want to see the film, what's to stop them from going to the other one anyway? An introvert person in and extrovert screening may have only themselves to worry about, but an extrovert wandering in to an introvert screening will end up annoying everyone, and what's more, such people often genuinely do not understand or have any sympathy for how their behaviour affects or irritates others.

RE: The Devils



As it's an attack on the Catholic church, my guess is that Warner release it, as it would upset the massive US Catholics/Christins, and would cause Fox News to battering down Warner's doors, telling viewers to boycot their products etc, so it's not worth all the hassel.



Apparently Criterion cannot get the licensing rights for The Devils, or Russell's other films The Music Lovers or The Boy Friend, as Warner Bros. owns them and will not sell them.



@ Jai-Bone - There is no longer version, according to Rewind dvdcompare the running time is 118:31 PAL, the Australian DVD is 123:46 PAL, but is still the same as every dvd that's available around the world as confirmed by the reputable website Melon Farmers.

Ooops spelt Christians wrong.

I am really intrigued about watching this film, and although I enjoy horror I am very wary of approaching such movies. I read a short description of the movie “Straw Dogs” and was freaked out by simply reading about it and so refuse to watch it…looking on the internet it appears many have difficulties categorising "Possession": in terms of gore, how scary is “Possession” and do you think I should follow my intrigue and simply buy the DVD?

She fights with an octopus? Weird.

I would never really categorise Straw Dogs as horror per say. It should definately be seen though as it's a complete assault of the senses in the last thirty minutes and claustraphobic brilliance in the lead up. Peckinpahs finest film?

Even the clips on the blog freaked me out. I'm going to have to wait for a night that I am feeling particularly brave before I pop this one into the DVD player..

I dunno why anyone is upset about the failure to release possession/the devils/almost anything on dvd. you guys realise this is the internet right? theres pretty obvious and simple ways of "acquiring" all these films if warner brothers/etc dont want to release them properly. all youre really looking for from warner brothers is a shiny box and some boring extras (most of which will end up on youtube anyway). Their loss I say, specially if they wont let criterion put it out either.

Not being a horror fan, I won't be rushing to see Possession, as I have with some of the Good Doctor's other recommendations.



That aside, I must admit to being puzzled by Dr K. saying that the film appeals to him as "having seen it loads and loads of times I'm still not sure what it's all about."



As cjmcc5150 (post 20) suggests above, surely that has to be a weakness in a film rather than a strength if it really is that baffling.



Sure, we can all enjoy exploring a film's layers and themes, but if a respected film reviewer and horror expert like Dr K. can't get to the bottom of this film, what chance do the rest of us have?



And wouldn't that lend credence to the people on this blog who have dismissed the film as pretentious nonsense?

Right. i finally got around to watching Possession this weekend. i sat down alone curtains drawn, lights off, sound up, and pressed play. What i ended up seeing was amazing. It was totally crazy, out there. I have never seen acting like it for a whole film. i can honestly say its the first film i have seen in years that has actually scared me. the scenes of horror and the scenes between sam neil and his wife where so loud and prolonged with the camera and actors contantly moving around close to the screen, i found myself feeling quite anxious on a number of occasions. when the film finnished i actually felt completely knackered. im sure alot of the films meaning was lost on me with one watch so i cant wait to watch the film again so i can hopefully decide for myself what some of it all means and i will recommending it to some of my freinds. So thank you Dr K for making me aware of this film. it is definatly the best former video nasty i have seen and i expect i will remember the experience of watching it for the first time for years to come.



On a broader note about the Video nasties. i have seen alot of them and more often than not i have found them to be abit rubbish as films. (other than the novelty of watching something banned or previously banned) can anyone on here recommened any other gems that featured on the list.

To the good Dr, I was checking the film4 website for their review of possession and came across a one paragraph review which read:



"An incomprehensible and pretentious 1980s monstrosity from director Zulawski. The film was one of the original 'video nasties' on the Department of Public Prosecution list, presumably because of a scene where Adjani gives birth to a tentacled monster. She later takes this slimy critter as a lover, but then it mutates into Adjani's despised husband (Neill), who once tried to slice his arm off with an electric carving knife. The last scene has a small boy trying to drown himself in a bath while bombs explode outside. Which is pretty much how the average viewer will feel after subjecting themselves to this load of pants."



After this review scrolling down to the comments section someone had left a one sentence comment on the 21st of this month which read:



"With Zulawski's film about to be re-released on DVD, now would be the time to publish a more informed, considered and less infantile response to it."



This comment was in fact posted under the name "Nigel Floyd", so I would like to ask if it's not too much trouble if the good Dr could find out and confirm whether or not this was in fact posted by his colleague Nigel Floyd or not?

great blog post, Mark - I agree completely, etc... BUT!



I'm sorry to split hairs, but this IS kermode uncut, right? Yes, it is. Then why censor out the use of the f-word? I really don't get it. First of all, if it's a direct quote from the director, then it has next to nothing to do with *your* choice of words - it's all about historical accuracy, right? Right??



And even if it really isn't... hey, who cares? It's YOUR UNCUT blog! It seems that there's a slight double-standard going on here... :D Seriously though, the very name of this (rather awesome) website should make it impossible to censor anything you decide to do here, so long as it doesn't break the law... but saying the f-word is legal, isn't it?

I think the tone of the film and the choices made by actors and director were made in order to convey the state of pure chaos that would surely herald the arrival of a great evil. If you put the cold war, broken marriage and destructive relationship metaphors aside and take the work literally for a moment, Adjani's character is the cypher for a truly unfathomable evil and in turn all who come in contact with her have their souls and minds sucked into this miasma with her(some souls literally, it would seem).



It's only my reading but for me this explains the disconnect between the content and delivery of some of the scenes that people have a problem with, how she seems to control and change the emotional pitch of other characters on a dime, the highly choreographed movement(she IS a ballet instructor) of the actors, and yes, the 'overacting'. To me it's as if this power is tasting the fullness of human emotion through her with no regard for the consistency or outcome of their actions.



If you are to accept that the film is, at least on face value, a story of the coming of an antichrist figure to our 'realm' wouldn't the veil of sense, reality, humanity and reason be torn to shreds? Can't the emotional chaos inflicted on these characters be seen as the beginning of the end for us all? It's a beautiful film that attempts to show that evil doesn't just light fires and poke your bum with a trident but literally attempts to "....tear your soul apart" as someone else who has seen this movie once wrote.

@Insomnivore



Possible SPOILER ALERT



I'm not sure about the antichrist theme as there's a noise at the very end of the film that indicates to me something more, well, otherworldly...

@BILLYTHESKID



I've tried getting The Devils by other means and I'm as yet to find a version of any decent quality. Besides, I'd prefer not to have to resort to downloading and give the film makers the credit they deserve by actually purchasing their end product. It's not about the box, the extras (though they'd be more than welcome too) or anything else as much as it's about the principle.

@Touchfinder



You're as correct as anyone is, the film is so open to interpretation that just the word 'otherwordly' has thrown my mind off on another tangent, so thank you. I've seen it three times and each time I take another theory away with me, I'll have to buy the DVD and see where it takes me this time.

Hi there Dr. K. I took your advice and recently ordered a copy of the re-released 'Possesion' on DVD, which arrived in the post today (I think it came out yesterday) I'm very much looking forward to it, but on the back is a quote which reads 'An unsung masterpiece... the film that prefigures everything that's in Antichrist' by Mark Kermode. Ever heard of the guy?



p.s. You were right about Paranormal Activity 2... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm BOO...... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm BANG...... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm BORE!

I have just ordered Possession and await it's filthy schlump through my letterbox in a few days...

Thank you Dr K for yet another good recommendation, Possession is a film that would of completely slipped under my radar. Which confirms for me the value of this fantastic blog so that these forgotten treasures can be talked about once again.



I have to say Possession was completely and utterly insane and other than having a few of my own half baked theories as to what the movie was actually about I am pretty lost in its madness. The creature effects were absolutely fantastic and impressively pre dated the incredible creature effects in the thing which I would closely link. As for the acting I really don't know why people are giving Sam Neils performance such a hard time, his wide eyed aggressive rocking in the wicker chair was both menacing and powerful not to mention the numerous bouts of rage and spiraling madness.



A great film released just in time for halloween. Alongside Lynch's Eraserhead I think it may just be the most schizophrenic double bill for the 31st.

Saw Possession last night and thought it was mad, often nonsensical but ultimately satisfying. It also seems appropriate that it has been released near halloween, although it isn't really a horror film. To be honest, it defies any genre.

To elkoolio01:



Great idea. That has to be added to the cinema 'dos and don'ts'. NO EXTROVERTS. You'd cut all the anti-social behaviour by two-thirds, at least.



In fact I go one step further. How about "no people allowed except me"? Think of it as an extreme version of Mark's "one seat to the left, right, behind and in front" rule. Whoever thought the cinema was a social experience was an idiot; it isn't, any more than reading a book is a social experience. The cinema is the equivalent of an audience sitting in rows reading the same book. Except there are idiots who don't know how to read to themselves, or still follow the print with their finger reciting out loud each word.

Watched this last night (returned it this morning so some lucky Lovefilm member should get this DVD tomorrow). Thought it was a brilliant film and every time you thought you were getting your head round what was going on, it threw something new at you. A very eye opening film and the acting of the leads was brilliant. Some amazing imagery makes this a must see film if you like your films weird and wonderful.

i watched it. i loved it.

but i loved it in a kind of ironic way. everything seemed tongue in cheek and deliberately excessive. i thought it just wanted to throw everything at the wall and see what stuck. then i watched the 'making of' and had to switch it off because the pretentiousness of its makers was ruining the film.

it's a film primarily about visceral/sexual excess. not communism. you can dress your film up in anti-political statements but at the end of the day your leading lady has sex with a jellyfish and has green goo coming out her nethers.

watched possession on dvd yesterday from my lovefilm rental list, and while i agree with the theames that arise in antchrist, i found it to be a kind of alternative 'Shining' but the man and women roles switched. Think about it, a married couple with complicated marital problems, girl/man goes crazy in isolation by being possessed by some monster/spirit and tryes to kill there family. Maybe some of the similarities are too vague and could just as well be translated into any other horror film etc. But seeing as both possession and the shining came out around about the same time and had these equivalent scenes and similar looks about them, i just imagined that if the tag line for this move was something like "the flipside of the shining" or "if you like the shining watch its exploitation sister" etc if wouldn't be too ar from the truth

I've just finished watching my copy of Possession and I have to admit it's utterly baffling. Totally deranged. Like yourself, Dr K, I have no idea what it is all about, but I do know that it's a remarkable film. It reminded me in places of early Polanski (Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby) as well as David Lynch's "identity crisis" movies like Lost Highway, all thrown in to a blender with The Thing and Naked Lunch.



Very glad I checked it out, easily an overlooked classic.

Just watched Possession (thank you, LoveFilm).



Well, that was pretty full-on, wasn't it? I can only suppose Zulawski has some serious issues to work out. It's a totally demented performance, not only from Adjani, from from Neill too.



I can certainly see the parallels with Antichrist, though I'm not sure they're thematically similar - but that's at least partly because I'm not sure I understand the themes of either film. :) Possession seems to have a duality thing going on, with the green-eyed doppelgangers of both the leads, and several shots with mirrors, and the Berlin "divided city" setting, but I'm not sure where that goes... And what's with the pink socks?



Great film though - like Antichrist, I want to watch it again to try and figure it out. But not just yet.

Utterly bonkers yet very good i was transfixed by Adjanis performance and the ending which left me feeling like i had been punched in the stomach

Absolutely crackers, but well worth watching; thank you Dr K! I was impressed with both of the leads, finding the performances to be very powerful, and as to the story - well I won't give anything away, but I do have my own theory about that incredible ending. The subway scene will be in my mind for a while too. The film was beautifully shot - I loved all of the use of wide angle lenses, with everything in each shot being wonderfully clear and important.



If you hadn't pointed this out I would probably never have seen this film.

I think the word your actually looking for is "codswallop"



Overblown, pretentious, tosh. Adjani's peformance was like watching an actors workshop where the trainees are made to scream at the top of their lungs and let out all the pent up anger before they start a session. I really don't think that just letting yourself go entirely, as Adjani does in the subway scene, is particularly good acting, it's just letting go of all your inhibitions and screaming a lot.



Sam Neill was passable, but then he was the only one toning it down in places. The guy who played Heinrich (who incidentally looked like Antony Hopkins German twin) was just ridiculous flailing about all over the place as he delivered his lines.

I hated it when I finished watching it at 12.45 last night (maybe I was just tired and grumpy), but I must admit it has stayed with be and made me mull over in my mind just what the hell it was all about.



I totally agree with Amber and her divorce theory. I also think it is about disatisfaction within a relationship and the search for perfection. It may touch on mental illness too and the affect it has on a relationship.

In all honesty I don't really know, it could really just be some weird science fiction tale at the end of the day. All I know is it's not very well done and I feel like I wasted 2 hours of my time that I could have spent tucked up in bed!

Cheers Dr K

Marge... you're a fool to yourself.

I watched Possession when I was thirteen (thinking it might be up there with my other favourite 'nasties') at the video store where I worked on Saturdays. I thought it was rubbish and the movie quickly faded from memory.



Cut to Kermode's blog and I thought, 'I've seen that, it was rubbish'. However, I'm aware that my tastes have improved since 'Nightmares In A Damaged Brain' so I downloaded it; gave it another spin. One of the finest horror movies of all time imo. If I were to make comparisons to any other movies they would have to be Naked Lunch or Jacob's Ladder. Some seriously brilliant stylized acting/dialogue/direction going on. Though I'm loath to admit it, I'm glad Mark sent me back to rediscover Possession. It's a film that stays with you long after the closing credits; not for it's gore, but for the psychological mindfunk assimilation that anyone (who has been in a disintegrating relationship) will recognise.