Thoughts on
Possession (1981)? I thought it was chaotic, crazy, terrifying, brutal, and best of all, pretty awesome. The critics in reviews I've read and I spotted similarities to
The Brood,
Invasion of the Body Snatchers and
Eraserhead, but it's very much it's own entity. It's nice to see Sam Neill in a movie requiring more range from him since I've only seen him in blockbusters, but the movie wouldn't work without Isabelle Adjani's fearless and unhinged work, especially in
that scene that I'm sad to hear has been memed (well, I guess it happens to everything eventually). I also love the wide-angled, swooping camerawork for how it accentuates those wide Berlin streets and the many variations on divides, whether it's the failing marriage, the Berlin wall, etc. I found
Mad Love, the other Zulawski movie I've seen, impenetrable, but I glad I watched it first since it let me know what I was in for.
My takeaway from this movie that resonates the most is its
WARNING: spoilers below
fear of impending westernization. You see it in West Berlin's cold, clammy aesthetic as opposed to the stylish (and decaying) one in the east, the dead-eyed expressions in Helen and Mark's doppelganger, and if the ending is of any indication, westernization, despite its conveniences, means death and destruction.
fear of impending westernization. You see it in West Berlin's cold, clammy aesthetic as opposed to the stylish (and decaying) one in the east, the dead-eyed expressions in Helen and Mark's doppelganger, and if the ending is of any indication, westernization, despite its conveniences, means death and destruction.
Kind of fun fact: I blind bought the
Possession/
Shock DVD almost a decade ago and finally got around to watching both halves this year. Why'd I wait so long?