Search - Possession on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Not For Children, Adult Language, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1981 DVD Release: 05/09/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Director's Cut SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 3 mins Studio: Anchor Bay Members Wishing: 10 Genres: Avant-garde / Experimental, Marriage Drama, Supernatural Horror, Surrealist Film See Also: Possession

Usually misattributed to the horror genre, this challenging and highly unusual drama stars Isabelle Adjani as a young woman who forsakes her husband (Sam Neill) and her lover (Heinz Bennent) for a bizarre, tentacled creature that she keeps in a run-down Berlin apartment. In the beginning, her husband knows nothing about the monster and sincerely believes that his wife is insane. He has her tailed by private detectives, whom she kills and feeds to the creature. Still unaware of what has happened, the husband contends with the reserved and inadvertently seductive presence of his wife's look-alike (also played by Adjani), a schoolteacher who frequently comes to tutor his son while his wife is away. Though tempted by her quiet goodness and beauty, he is still passionately in love with his wife and even after he finds out about the murders, he stays by her side and helps her conceal her crimes. Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe. The version originally released in the U.S. had 45 minutes chopped out; in this form, it is barely comprehensible and looks like a cheap, gory feast. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Isabelle Adjani - Anna
Isabelle Adjani - Helen
Sam Neill - Marc
Heinz Bennent - Heinrich
Margit Carstensen - Margie
Michael Hogben - Bob

Possession is the kind of movie that either disturbs viewers or makes them laugh out loud. This DVD release of the movie sees the movie in fine form, in a 123-minute director's cut. The 1.66:1 widescreen presentation allows director Andrzej Zulawski and creature-effect guru Carlo Rambaldi's bold visuals to achieve maximum impact. A high-contrast, clean print was used for the transfer, and there are no digital distractions to inhibit the twisted imagery. The Dolby Digital Mono Sound might not provide the dynamics of the visuals, but it's acceptable and quite bold nonetheless. Supplemental features include a director's commentary/interview, two theatrical trailers, and a talent bio of Zulawski. The commentary track is quite fascinating; the director leaves no stone unturned as biographer Dan Bird leads him to discuss the movie's cast and production. The U.S. theatrical trailer is rather redundant, giving away too much of the plot; the international trailer is far more stylish and worth a look. Both are widescreen. The DVD's case boasts talent bios, but there's actually only one, which goes into some detail about Zulawski's career. The "Chapter Selections" menu gives instant access to the DVD's 30 chapters, but only via chapter numbers and titles; it's rather hard to figure out which scene corresponds to which chapter title without the context of still images, especially since the DVD is a director's cut that differs from the original theatrical release. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Movie Guide