Let’s chance up pace a bit with something that’s become more of a cult classic in recent years—the weird psychological horror Possession, infused by the more arthouse sensibilities of Andrzej Żuławski. He was something of a protege of another Andrzej, namely Wajda—probably the most famous name as far as directors from Poland go. Nevertheless, as far as Żuławski goes, this probably remains his most well-known entry globally, so how does it turn out?
Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani are our stars here, playing a couple living in the concrete expanses of Cold War-era West Berlin—the former playing some sort of secret agent who returns home only to find his partnership strained and his wife acting oddly. At first it seems like a straightforward affair, with the flamboyant Heinz Bennet getting involved—but of course, it turns out there’s something else afoot amid it all.
Let’s get something out of the way—if you want grounded performances and straightforward narratives, this one probably isn’t for you. Pretty much everyone is up to eleven on the hamminess scale—Sam Neil gives us a taste of the gloriously deranged expressions he’d put on in future horror flicks, and everybody else is about as operatic. It’ll either make things more entertaining or be a bit much, but in any case, it at least means it’s not boring at all.
We also have a strong sense of atmosphere—Berlin is portrayed as an oppressive jungle of concrete and greyness, looming over the fraying sanity of our characters as they descend into their own paranoia and psychosis. And, well, when we enter a certain apartment at a certain time, all dilapidated and crumbling, it compounds that feeling of wrongness as we’re greeted with some very well done practical creature effects as realized by Carlo Ramdali, who also worked on Ridley Scott’s Alien.
That aforementioned over the topness also comes into its own with one very memorable scene that by all accounts strained Adjani to realize, in the midst of a Berlin subway. It might start off a little silly seemingly, but that note is sustained until it becomes uncomfortable and more than a little stomach-churning. When the film does hit those notes, that’s when you realize why it’s become a cult staple over the years.
It’s still an acquired taste—none of the mains are super-likeable as characters and the ending takes a bit to process. While the script may feel like it sounded better before being translated at times, Żuławski brings on that unrestrained sense of direction as influenced by personal turmoils and the lingering fears of the Cold War for something that’s at the very least memorable. Check it out if that sounds like something up your alley.
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