FFFA: Possession (4K Restoration)

“One of the most demented movies of all time.” - Indiewire

Set in the shadow of the Berlin Wall and infused with Cold War-era paranoia and tension, Possession presents one of the most tortured portraits of a disintegrating marriage ever presented on screen. Drawing on his own divorce and creative blacklisting in his native Poland, visionary director Andrzej Zulawski masterfully blends horror and thriller conventions into an unique cinema experience. 

Spy Mark (Sam Neil) returns to West Berlin after a mission to find that his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) wants a divorce. She is having an affair, but insists that isn't the reason. When Mark hires a private detective to get to the truth, an even more disturbing secret is uncovered: Anna keeps a separate apartment housing an otherworldly, tentacled creature with a ravenous sexual appetite (created by special effects legend Carlo Rambaldo of Alien fame).

So continues the descent into a nightmarish maze of jealousy, carnality, terror and violence where identity and reality are almost impossible to distinguish. Notorious for the demands it placed on its stars, Adjani's searing performance earned her the Best Actress Award at Cannes in 1981. Savagely cut for the US market by bewildered distributors and banned in the UK for almost two decades, this restored edition showcases Possession as the director intended. It remains every bit as powerful and shocking today as it was on release.

Rating

E

Language

English

Cast

Sam Niel, Isabelle Adjani

Director

Andrzej Zulawski