Possession

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Possession

R

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2h 4m

Horror

Drama

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Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

42 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

After Anna (Isabelle Adjani) reveals to her husband, Mark (Sam Neill), that she is having an affair, she leaves him and their son. Mark is devastated, and seeks out Heinrich (Heinz Bennent), the man who cuckolded him, only to receive a beating. After a series of violent confrontations between Mark and Anna, Mark hires a private investigator to follow her. Anna descends into madness, and it's soon clear that she is hiding a much bigger secret -- one that is both inexplicable and shocking.

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Critics Consensus

Blending genres as effectively as it subverts expectations, Possession uses powerful acting and disquieting imagery to grapple with complex themes.

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Rachel Syme

The New Yorker

10/21/2024

The film contains one of the great gross-out scenes of all time...

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Peter Sobczynski

RogerEbert.com

10/01/2021

4/4

[Possession] remains one of the most grueling, powerful, and overwhelmingly intense cinematic experiences that you are likely to have in your lifetime.

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

01/23/2014

Adjani won the best actress prize at Cannes for her dual performance (as an unfaithful wife and her angelic doppelganger), but the whole cast is astonishing, exorcising painful feelings with an intensity that rivals that of the filmmaking.

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Kris Moyse

Starburst

Dec 12

5/5

Thematically rich and sensually devastating, Possession takes mundane elements of human relations and drags them, shrieking and caterwauling, into the metaphysical – made flesh through its bold, uncompromising performances.

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Josh Goller

Spectrum Culture

Oct 15

What begins as desperate, frenzied and often violent domestic conflict within a marriage in its last throes then unfurls into an intensely uncanny depiction of the psychological dissolution wrought by such interpersonal trauma.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Apr 26

Think 'Rosemary’s Baby' reimagined as David Cronenberg bio-horror colliding with European psycho-drama.

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no

10/06/2024

wasn’t even the same movie lmfaooo

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unknown

02/03/2022

Movies wasn’t even that good, it was boring and most of the time just them fighting and getting naked

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Dean S.

@DeanDFW 2d

What a terrible waste of time!

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Fumi A

Dec 22

Very good. Very crazy. Very dark. I love it!

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Dec 22

Utterly fantastic movie. Arthouse horror at its finest.

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Ricardo d

Dec 16

Ganha 2 estrelas devido a atuação visceral de Isabelle. A história e muito sem pé e nem cabeça. Parece uma briga de casal, depois já parece invasores de corpos. Um absurdo e não é como elogio.

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Andrzej Żuławski

Director

Isabelle Adjani

Anna

Sam Neill

Mark

Margit Carstensen

Margit Gluckmeister

Heinz Bennent

Heinrich

Johanna Hofer

Heinrich's mother

Jenna Ortega’s Five Favorite Horror Films

Major Awards Need to Stop Ignoring Incredible Horror Performances

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Synopsis

After Anna (Isabelle Adjani) reveals to her husband, Mark (Sam Neill), that she is having an affair, she leaves him and their son. Mark is devastated, and seeks out Heinrich (Heinz Bennent), the man who cuckolded him, only to receive a beating. After a series of violent confrontations between Mark and Anna, Mark hires a private investigator to follow her. Anna descends into madness, and it's soon clear that she is hiding a much bigger secret -- one that is both inexplicable and shocking.

Director: Andrzej Żuławski
Producer: Marie-Laure Reyre
Screenwriter: Frederic Tuten, Andrzej Żuławski
Production Co: Gaumont, Marianne Productions, Oliane Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Drama
Original Language: English
Runtime: 2h 4m

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