31 Days of Horror: Day 19- Possession (1981)

Despite the gruesome creatures, flying limbs and buckets of blood, horror as a genre can feel pretty stale. For every excellent film there is a dozen forgettable or terrible ones. And there are so many that it takes a lot of wading through the rubbish to get to the interesting stuff. For each day in October I’m going to recommend a different horror film or film about horror. For the most part they won’t be the accepted classics. My selections range from the genuinely excellent to the delightfully strange with a few that are more fascinating than they are great. Hopefully there will be something for everyone and you’ll find something new to give you a scare or maybe a laugh. This is my 31 days of Horror and today I’m talking about: Possession.

This film is one of my favourite’s out of the stuff I’ve talked about this month. It’s also the second appearance of both Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani in this series (Neill was in In the Mouth of Madness and Adjani was in Nosferatu the Vampyr). It also happens to be one of the most wonderfully insane films I have ever seen. Similarly to how Wake in Fright was a moral horror, Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession is kind of an emotional horror film. Every character’s emotional and psychological state is immediately evident. If a character is upset they will be screaming, flailing their arms and harming themselves or others. The emotional turmoil of a relationship breaking down is made to be as raw and intense as possible. At times the degree to which emotions are externalised can be baffling. But Zulawski shoots everything incredibly artfully. The camerawork in Possession is some of the best filmmaking I have ever seen. So much so that no matter how crazy and even laughably bonkers things get there is still an air of seriousness. I’ve talked a lot in this series about unique films and this is one of the most exceptional of the bunch. There is nothing else like it. Possession is an experience of a film.

Mark (Sam Neill) returns home from one of his many clandestine business trips to his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) who wants a divorce. She takes custody of their son Bob, and Mark spends his days alone in a hotel room obsessing over her and seemingly going insane. He goes to visit her and finds Bob alone. It turns out that she has been seeing another man, Heinrich (Heinz Bennent), and has been neglecting Bob. Mark confronts Heinrich who swears he hasn’t seen Anna recently. There seems to be a fourth lover in the mix but it turns out that it may not be human. In the midst of all the frenzied emotions she has taken in with some sort of octopoid creature. Mark attempts to pull his life together while investigating Anna’s actions. Everything seems to be spiraling out of control and it only gets worse.

Other horror films like Cronenberg’s The Brood and Lynch’s Eraserhead have tackled marital problems through surrealism, but not quite like Possession. They used allegory to explore a marriage falling apart and the fears of parenthood. These internal conflicts were externalised in The Brood through the sci-fi horror stuff and in Eraserhead through the imagery and dreamlike nature of that film. Rather than just filtering the characters thoughts and emotions through a fantastical story, in Possession they are just made evident by the characters. Even outwith the supernatural side it is surreal in itself to see people act the way Mark and Anna do. Everything they feel comes through on a surface level. If Mark is enraged and upset then he’ll start screaming and flipping tables. If Anna thinks she’s so depressed and confused that she’d rather die then she’ll take an electric blade to her throat. While those other films kind of have one level of allegory through which the themes are explored. Possession has several layers. The emotional chaos of the characters is a very surface level way of portraying their state of mind. But then they are pushed through this wild and crazy story. What it is saying is much more subtle than the characters appear to be. Without the directness of the characters then I don’t think the film would be able to maneuver through this mad story and say as much as it does. Not only does it convey the heart-wrenching pain of a relationship falling apart but it also deals with how desires can conflict with what people think they want and the psychological horrors that can come when life takes us in an unexpected direction.

Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani are unbelievably hysterical in this. They are off the rails and it is amazing. I purposefully used the word hysterical because they are both wildly uncontrolled in their emotions but they can also provoke laughs too. We’re just not used to seeing people act like this. When things are really serious then their outrageousness works perfectly. But early on in the film it can take you aback. For example, there’s a scene where they decide to meet in a cafe and discuss the state of their relationship. Within moments Mark is ranting and raving. Anna flees and he follows while throwing up every table in his way just destroying the place. Both of the actors completely commit and are brilliant but one can’t help but laugh. They scream, shout, spit, convulse and have fits. As it is a long film wrought with heavy ideas and full of darkness, these moments of hilarious insanity help keep it from being simply dour. Beyond those two there is an awesome performance from Heinz Bennett as Anna’s lover. He is like a drugged-up Anthony Hopkins who spouts out New Age beliefs. He is the complete opposite of Mark. When he gets emotional he will inexplicably bounce from wall to wall while softly spinning. He is the flamboyant wildcard of the film and a gloriously entertaining one at that. Everyone in it delivers utterly captivating performances.

Outside all the hectic wonder, this film is worth seeing for the visuals alone. Zulawski’s steadicam work is absolutely astounding here. When Mark is going mad it will spiral around him, tightening in as his mind becomes twisted. If characters are afraid it will fly past them, back and forth, dizzyingly reflecting their panic and fear. There is not a moment of uninteresting imagery. We see the same rooms over and over but every time they are portrayed differently. At every moment the camerawork reflects the characters state of minds. The camera moves as frantically and manic as they do but never without purpose. As disorienting as it can get it is never unpleasant or headache inducing. Zulawski knows exactly how far to push things while still looking good. Possession could easily have strayed into cringe-worthy melodrama and silliness. Yet at every moment the artistry of the camerawork is so evident that we are pulled in. It is a feat of filmmaking for so many reasons and at the top of the list are the astonishing visuals.

Possession is such an enigma of a film. It can provoke laughter, disgust, thought, empathy and confusion all at once. But through its gauntlet of craziness it tackles some very deep and meaningful concepts. Even if the intellectual side of it is completely ignored it is an incredibly entertaining film. Moment after moment it surprises and shocks. Beginning as a psychological thriller like Repuslion it then becomes a Lovecraftian horror and then out of nowhere it’s a spy thriller. Zulawski was an interesting filmmaker and Possession may be the pinnacle of his work. I can draw comparisons to try make sense of it but it is so wholly unique that to really understand what it’s like one just has to see it.