Directed by andrzej zulawski, it stars sam neill and isabelle adjani as a married couple going through a messy separation that ends up taking a turn for the worse when neill discovers what his wife has been cheating on him with. He goes to sam neill for help and says sam neill, help, she craizy. Be advised that possession 1981 is unlike many films you may have seen, however i wouldnt really classify it as a horror film. Possession 1981 if theres any justice in the world, this furious hurricane of a movie will belatedly ascend to its rightful place among rosemarys baby, psycho, and the rest of the scary. Looking back at possession a young sam neill stars in director andrzej zuwalksis disturbing possession. Isabelle adjani and sam neill at the top of their respective games, amazing direction and cinematography, a few iconic, unforgettable scenes that you cant unsee its quite a ride, and one you will not easily forget. Then sam neil finds his wife, and she explains that she had a freaky miscarriage in a subway where she basically went completely mad and threw her shopping everywhere, before having some weird. The film opens with sam neills character mark returning from an. Possession is a 1981 frenchgerman psychological horror drama film cowritten and directed by andrzej zulawski and. Possession 1981 dvd is a terrific occult and psychological thriller that explores some dark and shocking areas of the mind. An unexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on.
Anna isabelle adjani tells mark sam neill she needs to leave him, even. Marks job involves shady meetings and suspect briefcases. Its an artfilmdramahorror hybrid from polish exile director andrzej zulawski made in west berlin in 1981. Isabelle adjanis career defining performance seems at moments to go beyond madness. Sam neill visits his wife, anna isabelle adjani, after a period of separation. And thats nothing compared to what happens to the heroine of the.
Isabelle adjani and andrzej zulawski in possession 1981 isabelle adjani at an event for. The first time i saw possession i was blown away by the performance of sam neill and isabelle adjani. Ive been meaning to see this for a long time because everybody kept saying how good it was and now i finally watched it and holy shit its amazing. Andrzej zulawskis 1981 masterpiece, butchered upon its original american. At the end, when the monster goes back to the house after adjani and neill are killed the boy begs helen not to open the door and then promptly drowns himself in the bathtub the idealized husband and wife. Adjani was in a career slump due to a reputation as difficult to work with, but possession earned her a surprise cesar french oscar and.
Andrzej zulawskis 1981 depiction of psychosis, marriage, and hot womanonhumanoidsquid sex, possession. Among them, was andrzej zulawskis possession, starring sam neill and isabelle adjani arguably one of the best actresses of all time. The original trailer in high definition of posession directed by andrzej zulawski and starring isabelle adjani, sam neill, margit carstensen. Judging from the above, possession is not exactly the kind of movie youd. Possession 1981, andrzej zulawski what a relentlessly gutwrenching, frenetic, macabre whirlwind of a movie this is. The crafty double meaning in its title gives some clue as to what to expect from. A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. The films first half comes on like scenes from a marriage as directed by. Rate the last movie you saw page 2578 movie forums. Alex looks at andrzej zulawskis 1981 cinematic inferno, its place in art history, its immortal performances, and why it deserves much more than its reputati. For zulawski, the reallife rupture that drove him to make the film was a. Starring isabelle adjani, sam neill, margit carstensen, heinz bennent.
Possesion is a horrordrama movie, shot in 1980s kreuzberg, berlin by the polish director andrzej zulawski. Sam neill, who has since proven himself to be a consummate actor, here pitches his performance somewhere between wooden and maladjusted. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister. Possession is a 1981 psychological horror drama film directed by andrzej zulawski, written by zulawski and frederic tuten, and starring isabelle adjani and sam neill. Youll see your familar actor suffer a complete mental breakdown, and become a slurring, gibbering, violent lunatic. Its equally important to many others, as attested to by the wealth of writing on it that has popped up over the past few years since zulawskis north american renaissance. Divisiveness and duplicity are at the heart of zulawskis notorious cult film, and possessions dramatic structure is almost as schizoid as its protagonists, married couple mark sam neill and anna isabelle adjani, whose relationship inexplicably comes apart. Possession 1981 cast and crew after anna isabelle adjani reveals to her husband, mark sam neill, that she is having an affair, she leaves him and their son. Perhaps appropriately, given that it is a film in which visual motifs and symbols of division and doubling are so allpervasive and pivotal to any kind of interpretation, polish avantgarde filmmaker andrzej zulawskis possession has always retained something of a double life. No exorcist can handle possession far flungers roger ebert. Utterly unique, unforgettable, stupendous and life changing. Mark neill, a secret agent, returns from an overseas assignment to discover that his wife anna adjani has left him. Andrzej zulawskis possession 1981 fantastic voyages. Ive been meaning to see possession the 1981 frenchwest german coproduction from polish director andrzej zulawski for years.
At the time, i had no idea what i was in for, and that made things all the better. Director andrzej zulawski had them perform every scene with the most intensity possible. After anna isabelle adjani reveals to her husband, mark sam neill, that she is having an affair, she leaves him. In this episode, i will explore the spiritual themes of andrzej zulawskis 1981 film possession and how it relates to the films characters and atmosphere as a whole. The plot obliquely follows the relationship between an international spy and his wife, who begins exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking him for a divorce possession, an international coproduction between. Possession 1981 a film belonging to no wave, in the words of its director, a film that, deceptively, wears the mask of a horror film while also dipping into cold war espionage and domestic melodrama, andrzej zulawskis possession 1981 arises from, and stays terrifyingly within, an experience of traumatic loss. Possession 1981 nude scenes 1981 love it or hate it. There are like million movies titled possession so im talking about the 1981 one with isabelle adjani and sam neill. Ive heard superlatives from its devotees, knowing little of its plot, just a description of its strange, arty vibe. Sam neill and isabelle adjani throw themselves into their performances as if their loved ones are being held hostage and will be shot in the. Adjani and neill firmly set the benchmark for emotional anguish among dysfunctional couples. But dont worry, youll be in good company, right alongside sam neill and isabelle adjani, the stars of.
After she disappears, abandoning their child in her apartment, mark manages to track down his wifes lover. Some years ago, i happened across a collection of older, more obscure movies. Possession the night the screaming stops 1983 rotten. Possession is far from a normal horror movie and its even further from a normal drama, but for the miniscule audience that enjoys obscure movies involving extramarital affairs with mysterious.
Pretentious and confused metaphorical drama masquerading as horror. Leaving a meeting in desolate west berlin, marc sam neill gazes across the wall, takes a tough phone call from estranged wife anna isabelle adjani, then discovers evidence of her affair, in director andrzej zulawskis possession, 1981 view the tcmdb entry for possession 1981. The crafty double meaning in its title gives some clue as to what to expect from possession. A 1981 psychological drama, directed by andrzej zulawski and starring a young sam neill and isabelle adjani. Sam neill helps by smashing him over the head and drowning him in a blocked toilet. Thus began the intro to my second book house of psychotic women, and indeed, andrzej zulawskis possession is a key film for me. Possession 1981 posted on oct 27, 2016 oct 27, 2019 by the crow. Neill wrote and directed a film for the new zealand national film unit, telephone etiquette 1974.
For followers of purely mainstream cinema, it would be startling for any sam neill fans to stumble across possession. Possession may be the only film in existence which is itself mad. The movie opens with sam neills mark returning home to west berlin from a worktrip. Writerdirector andrzej zulawskis 1981 film was originally released in the united states shorn of of its running time. But the true nature of his work isnt important to the plot. But nowhere near as unhinged as isabelle adjani, whose performance must rank as one of the most committed depictions of raving hysteria in all of cinema, and by committed i could just as easily be referring to. Official theatrical movie poster for possession 1981.
At the end, when the monster goes back to the house after adjani and neill are killed the boy begs helen not to open the door and then promptly drowns himself in the bathtub the idealized husband and wife are reuniting. Which resulted in very unrealistically overacted performances that gave the movie exactly the. It has been considered a serious piece of art cinema in many quarters, w. The second half of the movie is where things starts becoming bizarre as adjanis character knocks down the door to lala land and sam neill starts grinning and scheming as if he is mixing up his act with that of his other 1981 performance in the omen iii. Isabelle adjani, sam neill, margit carstensen, heinz bennent, shaun lawton originally banned in the uk as part of the video nasties furore of the early 1980s, director andrzej zulawskis controversial cult classic possession made it to bluray thanks to second sight films, and despite. Our cinematica classic movie of the month for november 2019. Neils first film was a new zealand tv movie the city of no 1971. Sam neill willingly joins in with master artist andrezej zulawslki directing. He followed it with a short, the water cycle 1972 and the tv movie hunts duffer 1973. With isabelle adjani, sam neill, margit carstensen, heinz bennent. The reason we are here now is the other one, which had the misfortune to arrive on video just at the wrong time, to end up on the video nasties list, easily the most bizarrely outofplace of all the 72 films on the dpps hit list. Sam neill gives a terrific performance and fascinating portrayal of a husband reeling from his situation in possession dvd 1981.
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