SHOCK CINEMA
HOME PAGE
SUBSCRIPTIONS
AND BACK
ISSUES
FILM REVIEW
ARCHIVE
Hundreds of
Reviews from
Past Issues!
AD RATES
MAGAZINE
REVIEW INDEX

An A-Z List of
SC Print Reviews
SHOCK CINEMA
FACEBOOK
PAGE
SHOCK CINEMA
INSTAGRAM
PAGE
MISTER KEYES
At the Flicks
and Shit
SHOCK CINEMA
Film Favorites
SHOCKING
LINKS

Our Favorite Sites
'Chirashi'
MOVIE POSTERS

A Gallery of
Japanese
Film Posters

"Some of the 
best bizarre
film commentary
going... with sharp,
no-nonsense
verdicts."
Manohla Dargis,
The Village Voice
 
"One of the few 
review zines you
can actually read
and learn from...
You need this."
Joe Bob Briggs 
 
"Whenever you 
see a film critic,
pick up a brick and
throw it at him...
No great damage
can be done
to his head."
Jonas Mekas 

 

 Need more info?
 E-mail us at:

 shockcin@aol.com















POSSESSION (1981).

Actress Isabelle Adjani is hot right now, arthouse successes like QUEEN MARGOT and CAMILLE CLAUDEL (not to mention, U.S. swill like DIABOLIQUE). But here's her weirdest screen appearance, without question. Director Andrzej Zulawski headed up this multi-national hodgepodge (French actress, Australian actor, German locations, et cetera), and keeps the proceedings at a fever pitch from its first moments, creating a goofy, overdirected vision of the breakdown of a relationship. Best of all, the film is completely unapologetic for its unrelenting hysteria. Despite the Tilt-a-Whirl technique, I found much of it stunning, though it's no surprise the pic only made it to U.S. theatres in a hacked-to-shreds 80 minute version. For the record, I've waded through the full 2 hour European cut... The lovely Adjani co-stars with Sam Neill (THE PIANO) as an estranged married couple. Isabelle has left her hubbie for someone else, and after Sam endures a nervous breakdown (complete with spasms and psychotic trances), he confronts Adjani about her mystery "man". All the while, we get to experience their emotional deterioration and detonation -- from screaming and wailing and whacking each other, to Adjani bugging her eyes out and slicing herself with an electric carving knife (an action which only prompts Neill to copycat her, proving they're both nutcases and probably deserve each other). Overall, it makes THE WAR OF THE ROSES look like FATHER KNOWS BEST. And all the while, the camera spins, swoops and runs amok, as if the director of photography was on PCP (in fact, the camerawork was by Adjani's future bed-mate, Bruno Nuytten, who later directed CAMILLE CLAUDEL). It's the first movie in which the audience will need Dramamine in order to simply watch a guy in a rocking chair. Oh, and did I mention that special effects wiz Carlos Rambaldi worked on this production? His job was to create Adjani's mysterious lover, which turns out to be a slimy, tentacled fish-like creature she gives on-screen birth to in a subway tunnel. The creature is some type of physical manifestation of her emotional turmoil, and she immediately takes it home and starts fucking it (yes, the lucky viewer gets to see this juicy duo, too)... And I bet you thought the first hour sounded demented, eh? Finally, in a REPULSION-esque style, Adjani begins brutally murdering any visitors who uncover her secret... Zulawski takes the breaking point which many people in shattered relationships go through, and splatters it onto the screen like a primal scream brought to life. The performances are laughably overblown (still, Adjani won overseas accolades for her hand-wringing and lump-fucking), and at times it doesn't make a lick of sense. At others I was roaring at its brazen dementia... It's a difficult movie which veers wildly between the Asinine and the Unforgettable, and is packed with disorienting compositions and images. I was thoroughly impressed by its wrongheaded audacity, while finding myself touched by some of the razor-edged pain on display. Overall, an odd, disturbing mish-mash of monsters, mayhem and emotional meltdowns. If only more movies could be so daring.

© 1991 by Steven Puchalski.