13. Possession (1981)
Mark and Anna's marriage is falling apart. Mark wants to work things out, but agrees to leave behind Anna and their son, Bob, in their apartment. He begins to obsess over Anna, though, and phones her relentlessly. One day he goes over to the apartment and finds an unkempt Bob is there all alone. Mark refuses to leave Bob alone with Anna. He gets into a series of altercations with Anna's new lover Heinrich and ends up getting his ass kicked. Screaming argument after screaming argument takes place between Anna and Mark. People start dying and a hideous mutant monster is revealed. Yes, all this in one movie! The plot is obviously much more detailed and complex than I have outlined above. So detailed, in fact, that I cannot really make sense of it which is terrible because Andrzej Zulawski is my favourite film director. But I am not a great fan of Possession. Zulawski makes films with very heavy emotions in them - people going mad, people going murderous, and people generally getting into trouble. The level of emotions in his films range from highly exuberant to full throttle nervous breakdown, and it is the latter we get with Possession. Isabelle Adjani is not really acting as Anna - she is having an extended nervous breakdown on the screen. It is a remarkable feat as she wails, jerks, and screams her way through the film. Zulawski really asks for an awful lot from his female performers (just watch Valerie Kaprisky in La Femme Publique or Sophie Marceau in My Nights are More Beautiful Than Your Days). Anyone looking for a straight forward horror film will be utterly bewildered by Possession. It is more of a horrific psychodrama. It had utterly no reason to be on the DPP's list of 72 Video Nasties. However, the list did bring Possession to public attention, whereas Zulawski's other films linger (unfairly) in obscurity.