POSSESSION (1981)
Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Cert. 18
Duration: 124 Minutes 9 Seconds
Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Director: Andrzej Zulawski
Cast: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennent
Possession (1981), directed by Andrzej Zulawski, is a truly harrowing dissection of a disintegrating marriage, with couple Anna (Isabelle Adjani, The Tenant) and Mark (Sam Neill, In The Mouth Of Madness) spiraling into a psychotic madness as they crumble under the weight of a their disintegrating coupling. Their lives have devolved into daily screaming matches punctuated by outbursts of violence and self-mutilation, with Mark, who seems to be trying to salvage the marriage, while Anna becomes more unhinged and distanced. When she asks for a divorce Mark suspects that his wife is having an affair, and those fears are confirmed with the revelation of a lover named Heinrich (Heinz Bennent, The Serpent's Egg)... but she also has another more sinister lover, one more supernatural in nature that neither men know of.
Despite the affair Mark refuses to give her the divorce, soon after Anna flees their apartment leaving Mark alone to care for their young son Ben. Already a hot mess Mark further spirals out of control without her, slipping in and out of manic and catatonic states, losing his already tenuous grip on reality. He seeks out and confronts her new lover Heinrich about the affair, and while Mark attempts to assault his wife's lover he is instead bloodied by the the man, who reveals that Anna's has also left him, and that he has no idea where she might have gone. Returning home Mark finds Anna at the apartment, where he confronts here about her whereabouts before beating her bloody before she storms off. The next day a venomous argument in the kitchen results in Anna taking an electric-knife to her own neck, in the aftermath Mark can be seen in the kitchen cutting his own arm repeatedly with the same electric knife. Yeah, these two aren't healthy for each other, and dysfunctional doesn't even begin to capture the psychotic madness that is happening here!
After the neck-shredding self-mutilation Anna again disappears with Mark hiring a private eye to track her down. In the interim he takes up a brief affair with his son's school teacher Helen, whom looks remarkably like his estranged wife, Adjani in a dual-role. The investigator tracks her down to a shitty unfurnished apartment in Berlin, and under false pretense gains access to the dwelling, but inside he discovers more than he bargained for, a strange tentacled creature! While in shock at the sight of it Anna's slashes him with a broken-bottle, and then the film gets even stranger! There will be more deaths, a subway miscarriage of nightmarish proportions, and more psychotic behavior with a freakish apocalyptic ending. It certainly gets a bit weird and wild, and that's why I love it!
What a weird and beautiful film, they just don't make 'em like this anymore, that's for sure! A strange, frenzied psychological thriller set in the shadow of the oppressive East Berlin Wall. Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani's unhinged performances are spectacular, particularly Adjani who gives a terrifying performance during the subway miscarriage/possession scene, it's gut-wrenching as she seeps various fluids from pretty much every possible orifice, bizarre stuff! Neil, whom I feel is to this day is an underrated actor offers what might be my favorite performance from him, definitely check out him out in other stuff like Event Horizon (1997) and John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1995), both of which also feature him playing character that are well beyond weird. The film also benefits from some grotesque special effects and make-up from Italian legend Carlo Rambaldi (Alien, Dune), but what anchors the film are the passionately erratic performances from the two leads, daring stuff that at times threaten to go right off the rails completely, particularly Adjani who completely loses herself in the role, truly a bravura performance.
The film, which was shot by cinematographer Bruno Nuytten (Tchao Pantin), was banned in the UK as a Video Nasty alongside the films of Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, but watching it now I can hardly see why. It's harrowing, weird and creepy, but not overly offensive or even that graphic, well, except for the tentacled creature sex stuff, haha. Apparently much like David Cronenberg during The Brood, director Andrzej Zulawski himself was enduring a bitter divorce with his wife at the time with a child thrown into the mix, you can see it's influence on the film. In the US the film was re-edited and cut by some forty minutes with a new score and some poorly executed solarization effects, it's a total incomprehensible train wreck compared to the director's intended edit, and should be avoided as anything else but a curiosity.
Audio/Video: Andrzej Zulawski's Possession (1981) arrives on region-free 4K UHD from Second Sight Films, presented in 2160p UHD widescreen framed in 1.66:1 widescreen, with Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grading, “Restored in 4K from the original negative image. Digital and photochemical work carried out and supervised by Le Chat Qui Fume, 2020.” The image is near flawless, gorgeously restored to pristine condition, the only flaw is a stray vertical line that shows up for a few seconds. Details and textures are crisp throughout, the cold slate grey, steely blue/green color-grade looks terrific with the benefit of Dolby Vision HDR10, blacks are rock solid, and the whites are crisp.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono with optional English subtitles, the dialogue exchanges come through very straight forward, and there's what sounds to be source related sibilance in a few of the higher-register exchanges. The sound design is pretty minimal but effective, with a sparse but creepy and tense score from Andrzej Korzynski (The Devil), the bottom-end is pretty thin but this also seems to be a sound design feature.
Second Sight is well-stocked with new and archival extras, including a whopping four audio commentaries, the first is a new one with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Alison Taylor, a second with Director Andrzej Żuławski moderated by Daniel Bird, a third with Frederic Tuten moderated by Daniel Bird, and a fourth with Daniel Bird and Manuela Lazic on the North American re-edit version, which is also new.
Archival features also include the 52-minute retrospective making of documentary The Other Side of The Wall: The Making of Possession, and the 51-min Andrzej Zulawski - Director doc. Also included, the 7-min A Divided City: The Berlin Locations, a then and now comparison, the 19-min The Sounds of Possession: an interview with Composer Andrzej Korzynski, 6-min Our Friend in the West: an interview with Producer Christian Ferry, and the 5-min Basha: a featurette on poster artist Barbara ‘Basha’ Baranowska.
Another nice inclusion is the North American Re-edit of the film, newly restored from an archival print. It's an inferior version, but an interesting curio nonetheless, re-edited and re-scored, with some alternate dialogue. It's 40-minutes shorter and has a different score and some weird solarization special effects added to it. The last of the archival extras are 4-min of Deleted Scenes and the 30-min Theatrical Trailer. Second Sight sweeten the pot with new, exclusive extras as well, we have the 26-min The Horror of Normality: Guillermo del Toro on Possession, del Toro discusses his love of the film, what makes it so unique, Zulawski style and approach, and of laying on the love for Carlo Rambaldi's creature effects. The other new extras is a 19-min The Shadow We Carry: Kat Ellinger on Possession, which is also a terrific appreciation/examinations of this wild film.
I also own the Australian 2023 4K UHD from Umbrella Entertainment, which is director approved, but it does not have Dolby Vision/HDR. The differences in regard to extras are that this Second Sight release does not have the Audio commentary with film historian Sally Christie, nor the 10-min The Failure of Language Video Essay by author and film historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, though Heller-Nicholas dies have a Audio Commentary on the SS release alongside Alison Taylor. The SS release also features the new Audio Commentary by Daniel Bird and Manuela Lazic on the North American Re-edit, plus the 26-min The Horror of Normality: Guillermo del Toro on Possession, and the 19-min The Shadow We Carry: Kat Ellinger on Possession. That combined with the WGC color-grade give this release a very comfortable edge over the Umbrella presentation.
This standard release version from SS of Possession arrives in an oversized black keepcase with a single-sided wrap featuring the original Basha movie poster artwork, which is just one of the best movie posters of all time in my opinion.
Special Features:
- A new 4K restoration presented in HDR with Dolby Vision approved by the Producer
- Includes the North American Re-edit: Newly restored from an archive print (87:06)
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Alison Taylor
- Audio Commentary by Director Andrzej Żuławski moderated by Daniel Bird
- Audio Commentary by Frederic Tuten moderated by Daniel Bird
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Daniel Bird and Manuela Lazic (The North American Re-edit)
- NEW! The Horror of Normality: Guillermo del Toro on Possession (26:29)
- NEW! The Shadow We Carry: Kat Ellinger on Possession (18:35)
- Repossessed: The Film’s UK and US reception (12:29)
- Andrzej Żuławski - Director: archive documentary (51:39)
- A Divided City: The Berlin Locations (7:12)
- The Sounds of Possession: an interview with Composer Andrzej Korzynski (19:06)
- Our Friend in the West: an interview with Producer Christian Ferry (6:40)
- Basha: a featurette on poster artist Barbara ‘Basha’ Baranowska (5:55)
- The Other Side of The Wall: The Making of Possession (51:40)
- Archive interview with Andrzej Żuławski (36:03)
- Deleted Scenes (4:00)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:47)
Possession (1981) is a extremely weird, paranoid psychological thriller with some pretty horrific elements and visceral arthouse leanings. It's a tense bit of insanity that makes for a rewarding and uncomfortable watch, a film that gives us a pretty destructive view of a relationship that is violently disintegrating. This new 4K UHD from Second Sight Films is outstanding, offering not only a terrific Dolby Vision presentation, but chock full of extras that dive deep into this masterpiece, this comes highly recommended.
