Possession

            Between a local softball tournament, schoolwork and my inherent laziness, I have not yet had a chance to see Star Trek: Into Darkness.  What I have had a chance to see is a batshit insane film from 1981.  It apparently has a strong underground following as a cult horror film, but it isn't so much a horror as it is horrifically crazy.  It is a movie so far removed from the mainstream that I had to order the Korean import DVD just to see it.  It's name is Possession.

            On to the (weird) review!

            The first thing you'll notice when you watch Possession is that Sam Neill is both very young and Irish.  Those are two facts that I have never associated with him, since my first encounter with the veteran actor was in Jurassic Park.  The second thing you'll notice is that all the acting is hilariously, horribly overwrought. 

            The plot starts out relatively benign.  Mark (Sam Neill) returns home from some sort of espionage trip to find that his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) wants to leave him.  Though she will not readily admit it, she has found another lover in the polyamorous Heinrich (Heinz Bennent) and no longer wishes to spend time with Mark.  Mark does not take this well, nor does he think this will go over well with their son Bob (Michael Hogben).

            The first 30 minutes or so of the movie reminded me of Audition simply because it was more of a drama that later devolves into something very different, although comparisons to Antichrist are also apt since it's all about two people losing their minds within a disintegrating relationship.  Interestingly, after that it becomes more Hellraiser or Dopplegangerthan anything else, because this movie is fucking nuts.

            If I could create a collage of Sam Neill's facial expressions throughout the film, I would make a coffee table book out of it and sell it to theater actors.  Whenever the scene calls for him to be remotely sensible, he goes off the deep end, and when the film actually needs him to show emotion, his face remains flat.  Isabelle Adjani is no better, as I'm surprised the woman didn't rupture a blood vessel in her throat from all the screaming.  Heinz has it the worst, however, as he is forced to play one of the creepiest third wheel's I've ever seen.

            Basically, Possession has everything you want in a French film.  A good location (Berlin), a ridiculous premise (Anna's dark secret is just, well, ridiculous), acting that's better suited to an off off off Broadway production, and just enough of a twist to make you question the sanity of the writer and director.

            Needless to say this is not the sort of movie you rent on a Saturday afternoon.  No, this is the sort of movie that you only want to view when you're in the right state of mind and are willing to turn to your friend two hours later and loudly, angrily exclaim "What the fuck did you just make me watch?"