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This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

After finding this on a "Top 10 Body Horror Films" list, I decided to give this movie a go, based on the scant few images I managed to find online.The general idea is about a married man who is having problems with a unfaithful wife, who appears to be slowly going more and more insane as the film goes on. It actually isn't until well over halfway through the film that the movie ever actually takes on any sort of aspect that is even remotely similar to any sort of horror film. And as soon as it does, it makes no sense whatsoever, which includes the ending. Long winded, boring, this are just a few words I use to describe this film. The pacing is awful, the writing is awful, even the actors are awful. I can't believe I wasted my time watching this film.

Back in the days, directors like Andrzej Zulawski (who also wrote the story and screenplay) were still able to experiment and this movie is one of those experiments. Unfortunately today it no longer holds it's power. It just seems to be strange, awkward, annoying, and presumptuous.Both of the main actors are strong in their characters and roles. Sam Neill is Mark, who comes back to his wife after being away for months on work. He returns to find things have changed. His wife has been having an affair and now wants a divorce while seeming to be in the grip of a mental breakdown. This sets Mark on his own course of mental illness and Neill does a good job of portraying anxiety and depression.Isabelle Adjani as Marks wife Anna is, for the most part, brilliant at portraying her character's breakdown. She rushes about agitated, unable to complete even one simple task.Though the actors do exemplary jobs it's Zulawski that makes their illnesses a weakness to the film by overplaying them. There is just too much of them "spazzing" (Sorry for not being PC but when you watch the film you may forgive me) out to create a relatable atmosphere.Then with the unveiling of Anna's lover, the truly unbelievable self- righteous and pompous Heinrich, superbly over-acted by Heinz Bennent, that the film falls further into implausibility. The only realistic anchors in the film are the secondary characters, such as Heinrich's mother played with feeling by Johanna Hofer and Anna's friend Margit Carstensen portrayed by Margit Gluckmeister.Having said that, Zulawski does an impressive job of creating an unease through all the insanity. You get the feeling that there's something more, something darker, which is bothering Anna and Mark. When this is finally revealed the revelation is startling and is the reason why this was originally banned. It also shows why Carlo Rambaldi was one of the great special FX artists.This is a long two hours and four minutes. There are sequences that didn't need to be so long, and others that didn't even need to be in at all. Had this been at least fifteen to thirty minutes shorter with tighter direction, it may have lasted the time and be relevant today as it was then.I enjoyed parts of this film and loathed others. Because I didn't love any part of the film I cannot recommend for people to view. There are better wastes of time out there.

agreed this movie is not just a regular work of motion picture to be merely entertained with but i just kept wondering when is it going to finish since the very beginning! i'm sure i would have been quite impressed if i'd watched this movie in the year it was made when i was only 23 years young and still way more into being surprised by anything unusual ...although even there and then, i was going through a phase of my life that i had started to stop being easily impressed by anything, and i was doing it almost knowingly too ... therefore, under my present circumstances in life and at my present age, i think i'd let it pass without worrying a bit about how my taste has changed so much during all these years ...well, to be fair, i also have to admit i watched a YouTube copy that had been intentionally screwed so that YT wouldn't take it down! it was also a much shorter version reportedly but at least the picture quality and sound were tolerably good anyway ... even though, i'm still with what i just said: i'm not impressed really ... (for those who may be offended by this review of mine because they believe they love this movie: agreed, my bad!) ;-)ps: would it be safe to say the story was at least partially inspired by that of Polanski's (Ira Levin's) Rosemary's Baby? is this a sequel to that movie, sort of? naaah!

The marriage between Mark (Sam Neill) and his French wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) is crumbling. Anna is having an open affair with Heinrich (Heinz Bennent), blaming Mark's elongated time spent away for his work (an undisclosed spying mission he is trying to walk away from). Their unfortunate child, and the most stable character, is Bob (Michael Hogben), caught between the increasing madness and paranoia of his drifting parents. It's apparent that the child's presence keeps Mark and Anna more grounded than would otherwise be the case, for when he is out playing, or at school, increasingly violent hysteria ensues.Through a private investigator, Mark discovers his wife has a second apartment in the rundown side of town. When the investigator discovers a slimy, living organism in the apartment, Anna glasses him. Events spiral further into rich absurdity and madness and with that, 'Possession' lurches confidently into uncategorisable territory. It is also the most enjoyable and refreshing horror film I have seen in a long time.Conversations are replaced with intense dramatic exchanges involving characters forever at the end of their tether, frenzied even from the outset. The direction comprises of shots that give the actors space to do their thing, and what intense performances are unleashed! Often shot in cool blue colours, this was filmed entirely on location in cinematically drizzly Berlin.Director Andrzej Żuławski wrote this whilst going through a divorce, which might well have contributed to the fraught emotions exhibited by the characters.Each time we see the organism, it increasingly exhibits human shape until ultimately, it assumes Mark's appearance (as well as the sexual attentions of Anna). In a bid to outdo even its own outlandishness, I feel the ending is ultimately slightly disappointing – however it cannot be easy to bring a satisfying closure to such an outlandish and shocking series of events.Meeting with disappointing sales on its release, 'Possession' was banned by the usual feint UK hearts as a 'video nasty' yet has assumed cult status. It also won Isabelle Adjani multiple awards for best actress for her astonishing performance. As it is, every performance is astonishing, from Bennent's passionate portrayal of the flamboyant Heinrich, to juvenile's Hogben's commendable playing of Bob.