Very flawed with weak dialogue, an uneffective obtuseness and Bennent's dreadful performance wailing his arms about like a buffoon. And yet it is utterly mesmerizing with Isabelle Adjani's staggering performance bursting with fierce intensity and raw emotion, and the scene in the tunnel which is three minutes of pure undistilled horror both ranking as highlights. It's a very imperfect film, yet I can't deny its strange, demented power.

"Horror being a profitable genre in the early 1980s, Possession was made to pronounce an aesthetic more visceral than cerebral, in turn more superficial than it was initially conceived to impart." - Rumsey Taylor

This was disgustingly bad and ridiculous. Painful to get through.

My favorite movie ever!!!!! Flawless!!!!

uhh ok

The most romantic film ever made. Adjani's performance is unbearingly intense, you just have to appreciate how insane she gets. And Neil's acting too is just as brilliant, showing a surely exaggerated (?) portrayal of a man going through the (e)motions after a nasty break-up. Total madness! Something art-house and horror aficionados can sit together and watch and equally enjoy.

What the fuck is wrong with polish people.

Gory, hysterical, over-intellectual and often unintelligible.

Nightmarish in a way that kind of reminds me of Polanski's early thrillers (notably Repulsion and The Tenant).

This film is so lousy. Everybody's just running, shouting and going nuts for 2 hours, just like in any other Zulawski's film. I'd give it 10 if not for tentacle monster that is extremely cool and the only reason to see this.

What the fuck...?

Isabelle Adjani can now be added to my list of women I am completely in love with. But yes, this film is amazing, if completely weird, and has the best cinematography I think I have ever seen in a horror film. Would be right up there with Rosemary's Baby and Don't Look Now if it made any sense at all. The whole thing is tremendously overacted, but bitchingly awesome. WATCH.

"Possession" is not an easygoing film. There are several scenes of hysteria, a great deal of blood, Adjani having sex with a disgusting monster, a bunch of violent murders and a weird woman with broken legs. It is a very intense picture, thanks to the pitch-perfect cast (especially Neill and Adjani), the terrifying music and the great photography. An imposing effort.

Insanity. Extremely bad dialogue and even worse acting. Maybe it would have been better, had it been cut by at least a half... but probably not.

Insane and heart-breaking.

I'll give it some points for peculiarity but overall 'Possession' is a quickly grating experience. The dialogue is often throw-away terrible and the acting is all over the place - which is kind of fun - but the virtuosity of the camera movements and some creepy moments can't save it from ridiculousness. Zulawski is clearly not without talent but that guy would do well to hold back a bit. This is one for those of you that revel in fucked-up-ness. That alone isn't enough for me.

"What ruins this movie is the over-the-top, emotionally raw, annoyingly unnatural acting by all the leads. Zulawski pushes his actors to behave emotionally wild as if in some radical psychotherapy, and although this sometimes works, here it comes off as theatrical, pretentious histrionics. Ironically, this is Zulawski's most popular movie but is probably his most bizarre and difficult work and also the most annoying and messy."

The main flaw of this movie is that Nicolas Cage wasn't around to take the Sam Neill role.

Stop yelling!! I wouldn't say that this is not an peculiar movie, but even the overdrama, overacting and overeverything, are not enough to make this film more than boring most of time. But besides all the silly mumble jumble symbolisms, the gore effects are nice.

The abrupt pace/directing changes hurt the film. Nevertheless, the exhilarating performances, shocking imagery and impressive cinematography more than make up for it. Adjani is specially incredible and absolutely unapollogetical.

what... the... fuck...

Perhaps the most intense movie I have seen, this is an impressive effort in trying to portray the irrational nature of love (not the only subject the film touches upon though), with a surreal twist and some shocking scenes on top, not to mention an insane performance by Adjani. Frantic camerawork add to the feeling of despair. A forgotten gem.

This movie is absolutely ridiculous...

Fiercely and beautifully intemperate and torrid in its outburst of emotion and thought and frantic anxiety, yet somehow sane in its insanity... I enjoyed the urgent images and "feverish" acting, the awesome, implicative dialogue and "irregular" soundtrack... Stunning, just stunning.

"...an ostentatious, absurd waterfall of beauty and horror and I let it wash over me."

I saw the 80 minute version

One of the most insane films ever made. Make sure you get the 123-minute version. The 80-minute cut is a total butcher job

The acting is fine... it's in the script itself where everything's really overblown. The first half hour is very impressive, but later on, when the horror elements kick in, they don't add to nor complement the drama but rather crush it under a layer of overly harsh symbolism. As the film progresses it squanders more and more of its initial gravitas and by the ending just seems silly. Reminded me a bit of David Cronenberg's lesser works.

Probably the best movie about madness ever made. Isabelle Adjani is fabulous.

The darkside of love have never been portraid so brutally honest as in Possession. With the help of a touch of surrealism Zulawski manages to explore every emotionall angle of the subject and never holds back. The film might seem overdone and absurd but every scene and detail has a reason, put to life with stunning camerawork, clever dialog and unexpected turns in both estetics and story. Also Neil and Adjani do some of the most honest and unsettling acting ever witnessed in film.

I liked the cinematography but honestly what the hell was this? From start to finish it just feels like a really insane noncoherant horror fest. Maybe that was the point, in fact I'm sure it was the point, but that doesn't make good cinema. The acting was so over-the-top it was almost laughable. No, it's not the worst horror you'll ever see but still this movie is downright absurd. Watch Cronenberg's "The Brood" instead.

I agree with the delirious plot and unreasonable progression, however the overacting(I'm not sure if I've seen anything so overdone) and extremity of the relationship circle made it worth a watch for me. It may be a little hard to forgive the pointlessness of the ending though. All in all it's a depressive stimulant if nothing else.

Not having this much fun for some time though, actually...since my childhood nightmares. I mean...watching the whole thing over and over, yeah...! This is your movie and the secret way to conceive twins.

this is the most irritating movie i've ever seen. people are constantly screaming, but nothing happens, it's just a bunch of overwrought pseudo-philosophical dialogue, like godard on a meth binge. and overacted, too. i do want adjani's sunglasses though.

I don't know what to make of this movie: it's insanity commenting, by filmically vomiting on, insanity. This is somewhere between Wiseau's The Room and Trier's Antichrist, with the pluses and minuses of both. I don't even know if I like it. But I won't forget it.