My buddy and his wife tried to watch Possession last week and told me they quit an hour in and the acting was too weird for them and they couldn't hang. It is so interesting how different people respond to it. Art house and more out there movies definitely aren't their usual style. They are more traditional jump scare or slasher horror types. But cool you have a podcast about it.
The way they speak to each other is the thing that instantly drew me to it. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s such a brilliant way to convey how these two people who were once in love can no longer communicate with each other. I tried to explain what I think this was a couple of times and I can never quite get it. It’s almost like they’re having two different conversations….but the words actually work out. It’s more like they have completely out of place tonal shifts with each other from line to line.
And the first half of the movie is surprisingly straightforward outside of those performances. Then the second half happens with doppelgängers and World War III and the scene where she you know what with the you know what…and for the life of me none of that is stranger or more affecting than the way they respond to each other. I told my friend…a kid drowns himself in this movie and it’s not in the top 50 things I think about when I watch it.
Also, Mark watching a video of Anna at ballet class…allowing her to break the 4th wall and stare down the barrel of the camera is more terrifying than anything to me. I don’t know why. It’s unsettling in a way nothing unsettles me. And when he hits her and she looks at him and smiles…or the scene in the subway…her performance is the most unhinged, beautiful thing.
I can’t get enough of this movie.