Possession (1981)

“Maybe this is something all couples go through”

Andrzej Zulawksi’s infamous 1981 film, starring Sam Neil as Mark and Isabelle Adjani as Anna, has only just now been released on digital platforms. The original version was banned in the UK under their obscenity act, but the VHS version kept this film alive among horror fans around the world. The movie starts with a high level of emotional intensity, and goes on to assault the audience with visceral precision in every new scene. There’s a doppelganger, a bisexual lover, someone has sex with a bloody squid monster, someone has a demon miscarriage, and there’s also a very intimidating electric knife! Possession is an endurance test, but the performances are incredible, and if you’re up for the challenge, you’ll definitely earn your horror movie bragging rights after watching this.

Since Shudder released the newly restored classic the other day,, I’m hoping people who are much smarter than myself will offer some new analysis about this cult fav. So far, when people write about this movie, they talk a lot about the marriage/divorce analogies, which is what Zulawksi himself offered as a clue to his intentions, and the obvious political themes, since the Berlin Wall is featured so prominently. But there is also a lot of panic about Mark’s relationship with masculinity and his own sexuality. Is the filmmaker using queerness to signal a kind of moral decay, or is he criticising his protagonist’s anger? Is he punishing Anna for evolving beyond her marriage, or are we seeing the world through Mark’s lense, who is unable/unwilling to understand? Is this whole movie just a juxtaposition of modern vs conservative, a kind of panicked, existential scream at the corruption of Mark’s masculinity?

Or is it just bullshit?