Possession

I don't believe I have ever seen anything quite like 1981's POSSESSION.  Here is a horror film in the absolute truest, most terrestrial sense - the dissolution of a marriage, complete with near unwatchable emotional breakdowns and clashes.  But there's also a slimy monster with tentacles.  Bloody murders.  Body parts stored in a refrigerator's crisper.  And the film's undisputed centerpiece, a woman's freakout in a subway station that really can't be described.  I read that director Andrzej Zulawski made actress Isabelle Adjani perform this scene twice to get what he wanted.  See the movie and tell me if that isn't just cruel and inhuman.

And maybe only such character flaws could  have erected this movie, one as, pardon my French, bat-shit crazy as they come.  A relentless film that truly shocked and jolted me.  Something I didn't think was possible anymore.  To say that it is more fierce than even THE EXORCIST is a gross understatement.  Rarely has a movie maintained such a fever pitch, such a vile grip on its audiences' psyches.  This is a deeply unpleasant and uncomfortable movie, one that will feel like an endurance test for even those who brag about enjoying things like SALO, 120 DAYS OF SODOM.

Mark (Sam Neill) returns from a work assignment to discover his wife Anna (Adjani) seeks a divorce.  He is baffled by her non-explanations and hysteria.  She insists, at least at first, that it is not because she of another man.  They try to part amicably, but it is not in their DNA.  After Mark discovers their young son Bob (Michael Hogben) was left home alone covered in jam, he takes back their home and attempts reconciliation.  It seems to happen.

Soon Mark learns Anna does have a lover, the arrogant and odd Heinrich (Heinz Bennett), who lives with his mother.  Now Anna as well.   But she will be driven to get her own place, a cavernous dump in which a strange creature dwells. Those who who visit her may not live till tomorrow.  

And why is Bob's teacher Helen (also Adjani) a dead ringer for Anna, save her piercing green eyes? 

Plot sketch, there.  I've neglected to mention the scene during which Mark and Anna cut themselves with an electric knife and find it doesn't hurt.  Heavily symbolic, like everything else in this movie, which takes place in an unnamed European city that is clearly West Berlin.  The Wall is visible outside Anna's flat.  Political subtext (this was pre-unification Germany) abounds, and also be aware that Zulawksi co-wrote (with Frederic Tuten) this in the aftermath of his own divorce.  The early scenes of Mark writhing in his bed in emotional pain feel as if torn from real life.

Much of POSSESSION does, despite the horror elements that seem inspired by the films of David Cronenberg and others.  This is a break-up film like no other, making things like SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE seem docile.   Really rough stuff.  Zulawski cranks this one up to 11, maybe higher.  It seems the work of a madman, someone suffering from psychosis themselves.  Did I mention that subway scene? Or the debris strewn ruins of their apartment after a series of verbal and physical warfare?  Adjani and Neill give this 1000%, with their acting somewhere between community theater rehearsal run amok and the most over the top of ham fat.  Did their arteries burst for real? Strictly from their emoting? That's how intense they are.

I'm still not sure I completely understood this movie, but its ambiguity is an asset, what will drive thousands of interpretations, especially as we learn about Anna's efforts to build the perfect beast. Or that final scene, which alone could be discussed for hours.  Do not select this for date night viewing.  You're welcome.  Trust me.