Excellent adaptation.

Admirable film.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

"Possession" is a film that transports the linear between reality and pure madness, with dozens of allegories, metaphors, sublime performances and precise direction, the Polish Andrzej Zulawski does almost a cinematic / psychological experiment. Focused on a screenplay, which in the foreground looks something very mundane, the film develops with a psychological apprehension, seen the depression of the character Mark and his lack of moral sense that is created when he discovers that he is being betrayed, soon in the first minutes of film, and on the other hand we have Anna, who is completely out of her mind, and with the course of the film is only getting worse, with psychotic deaf, bipolar syndromes, etc. The family drama at first is what causes the horror in the film, until we discover the monster to which Anna relates, and when the supernatural element comes by surprise in the film, in the best Stephen King style, you start to question and make reflections about everything that will already come here in the film. The monster can be interpreted as the materialization of the relationship of the couple, the deaf can be interpreted as the duality of thought in the head of the woman, between being a mother or indulging in pleasure, since Anna's character is apparently nymphomaniac, little-quoted but present, we have the social context of Germany in the early 80's, which ultimately influences the film and even make the viewer conjecture bizarre theories, since the wall was still standing. Technically the film is great, and the first thing that makes the most attentive viewer to film in the film is its Camera angles, with many long planes, and even the sequential planes, the camera direction of this film is perfect, even moments at which the film is harmed by repetitions of ideas is saved by the beautiful camera framing, always aiming to show the environment, with open or closed plans, exploring the loneliness or madness of each character, another notable point in the film is its track sounding, sneaky but perfect, it does not come to bother or scare, as the track of a good horror movie should do, but the trail helps to punctuate the mood of the film. Isabelle Yasmine Adjani and Sam Neil are more than perfect, they are perfect, they captivate, enchant, denubland and live with passion and finesse their characters. "Possession" is not a perfect movie, it tries to create mysteries and makes references within its idea that often go unnoticed at first glance, in addition to a gore half trash for a serious movie, but anyway, "Possession" by Andrzej Zulawsk is a little commenting film, but it is an excellent artistic expression of cinema

I can't begin to pretend I understood the film, but that means that, at least for me, the movie failed. It was a roller-coaster of great and stupid scenes, of hysterical acting and amazing acting and a script that mingled together divorce drama and Lovecraftian body horror and zen thinking and symbolism so heavy that I couldn't possibly enjoy it.Keep in mind that this is a performance that brought Adjani a Cannes best actress award, which is totally deserved. Sam Neill isn't far behind with an intensity of expression that makes the viewer feel things. However, what I felt was obnoxious was the heavy symbolism, the "you're not smart enough if you don't get it" type of art that always irritated me. If you are a great artist, express yourself so that people can understand.Bottom line: a weird melange of genres that ultimately felt like a masturbatory work for the writer and director of the film. The acting of the main character and the creature effects, as few as they were, were great. Others, like the gay detectives and the "best friend" where not only bad acting, but poorly made characters. The story was a mess. And it was a two hour long film that felt like a three hour one.

I have heard that this movie cannot be easily explained or made sense of, and yet I find it one of the easiest of all movies of this horror- genre to understand what the writer/director wanted to convey. The hurt; the rage; the jealousy; the monstrosity; the confusion; the violence of adultery in a graphic and painful movie. Every man believes his wife's adultery is a monstrosity that he believes all others cannot fully comprehend because the pain is often so deep and surreal. He sees his wife's actions as bewildering and confusing; as evil and archaic. The madness of unfaithfulness and the effects on the marriage. I have also read that the suicide of the boy at he end was a desperate attempt to give the audience one last shock, but I believe the writer is telling it's viewers that adultery has a traumatic effect on the children..one that should never be minimized. I don't believe even for a second that this movie was over-dramatized or acted. It was all intentional and deliberate. There is no sense to the victims of adultery, but only madness!

To call the film an ordeal sounds like one of the most hackneyed criticisms you could give to a bad film, but in some instances, you could have a beautifully sinister film, which is an important piece of cinema unmissable, and much like Irreversible, a film which is heavily influenced by one particular scene in this, ordeal is just the right word to summarise how I felt after seeing this.Mark and Anna are already on the brink of divorce. Mark returns home after a mysterious trip, only to discover that in his absence Anna has been conducting an affair. Anna's friend Margie has been taking care of their son, Bob, but refuses to tell Mark the name or address of the other man. After several fights Mark eventually discovers that an obnoxious 'guru' named Heinrich is Anna's secret lover and the two have a confrontation. Mark is also astonished to discover that Bob's teacher, Helen, looks identical to his wife. Soon Anna disappears again and this time even Heinrich doesn't know where she's gone. Mark hires a detective to find her and the terrible truth is gradually revealed........It's understandable that the director was going through a personal crisis whilst he wrote the film, every last drop of resentment, anger, distress, pain, and denial is here on screen, and in some way, he could probably emulate himself in each character that is portrayed on screen.Divorce is the main context of the films narrative here, and divorce from the point of view of someone who has had the worst act a married person could commit to their spouse, adultery. Adultery here could be portrayed as the monster that Anna is hiding for the majority of the film, after all anybody who has committed adultery would know that it is a burden to carry around with them for the length of the time they keep it a secret.Helen, on the other hand could be how Mark remembers Anna from all the good time, and when he reverts back to Anna, it's just a case of where did it all go wrong.The film becomes more frustrating for Anna and Mark, and the audience, as we get to the bottom of Anna's secrets, and the scene in the subway station is one of the most haunting and disturbing scenes you could endure, and Noé owes a lot to this film for his scene in Irreversible.The final scene is both heartbreaking and mind boggling. Parents, after divorce, sometimes change for the better, and for the worse, hence the exclusion of old Mark and Anna, and we have a doppelgänger Mark, and Helen, who both in turn appear to be the perfect people, but with sinister undertones.The light in Helens eyes and the noises she hears at the end of the film could indicate the birth of the new Nuclear family, and Bob 'drowning' himself could indicate the prison like feel of coming to terms with parents not being together.It's not for all tastes, that's for sure, and it left me feeling pretty low about the world after, but if you can stomach the tone of the film, it's really worth while.