Possession (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #42 extract: Possession (1981)

Possession is a near-impossible film to judge. The performances seem terrible, yet also appropriate, the direction is impressive, but also needlessly excessive, the writing is sometime awe-inspiring, but feels very pretentious at times, and overall this is simultaneously fascinating and mind-numbing. Everything and nothing wants to be at harmony and in conflict about this film, and the results are... I'm not sure. 

The only way I can begin to make sense of this is to see this as a film about divorce; divorce as a force that turns people into demons and welcomes chaos and fire into once peaceful realms; it is a destroyer and a saviour of the self and a place beyond time or space. In the end, I cannot say how successful Possession is at capturing this nightmare divorce, but, I do have a slight headache now.