POSSESSION (1981) by Andrzej Zulawski
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“Zulawski brilliantly melds body horror and allegory into both a perverse kind of therapy for his own bitter divorce, and a deliberate affront to Cold War divisions. Although fractured and often confounding, Possession nevertheless remains a slick, multi-layered political statement and a confession of inadequacy all at once. It also happens to be one of the most wonderfully disturbing movies you’ll find.” – James Rosario, The Daily Orca
“Possession is about how geopolitics creeps into the intimate spaces of our most private lives, how it colonizes and curls up inside our families and our feelings, our marriages and our minds, and then it starts to work all its knives, shaping our drives and passions, and breaking down our relations with others in order to build up strange new agents from the bleeding wreckage of our psychic flesh.” – Michael Uhall, The Vault of Culture
“Possession is a singular work of art that, now seen in its intended form, deserves consideration as one of the supreme horror films of its era. That said, for all of its grisly goings-on (and there are a lot), this is more of an exercise of emotional horror and on that level, it’s absolutely devastating. “Possession” is one of those films you will either love or hate, but which you will never ever forget, no matter how much some of you may wish that you could.” – Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com
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[Peter]
Some people claim that there is a fine line between genius and lunacy; I like to think of this more as a Venn diagram, with overlapping circles representing brilliance and madness, and Andrzej Zulawski films residing comfortably in the intersection of the two. There is no mistaking Zulawski’s singular style: frantic and dizzying camera work, dialogue that spans a range from the eloquence and philosophical rumination of a Shakespearian soliloquy to guttural stream-of-consciousness rants, and actors who deliver their lines as if they consumed copious amounts of pot gummies and are dealing with the resulting trauma as the universe swallows their souls. I first saw POSSESSION last year as a Hallowe’en indulgence, and have not stopped thinking about it since; it is now my absolute pleasure to introduce you to this cinematic thing-unto-itself so that it can live rent-free forevermore in your collective heads.
You can watch POSSESSION on Kanopy.
Happy viewing!