Andrzej Zulawski’s English-language classic POSSESSION has been subjected to a rocky release history. Part of this has to do with the fact that the film was originally considered a flop after being widely distributed. Thankfully, it has since reached a cult following for its nightmarish direction and mad performances by stars Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, the former of whom won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. After a middling 2013 Blu-ray release, Metrograph Pictures and TF1 Studios have released the definitive modern version of POSSESSION, premiering at Fantastic Fest and soon to be screened at Beyond Fest.

Anna (Adjani) has not quite been herself lately. She’s been acting erratic, distant, and just plain out of character ever since requesting a divorce from her husband Mark (Neill). Originally, she attributes it to an affair, but Mark suspects something darker is happening to his wife. What follows is a nightmarish descent into Cold War anxieties, sexual repression, and the degradation of the physical and psychological body. 

The work that the TF1 team has put into restoring this genreless masterclass in anxiety is wonderful. While the proper amount of grain and grime is still present, the film is so clear that it could easily be mistaken for a modern A24 or NEON release. Thanks to the newfound clarity, Zulawski’s intense one-shot takes and shaky camera appear more fluid than in previous copies of the film. The restoration team managed to hit the sweet spot between updating the film for a more accessible audience and keeping the director’s purposefully run-down aesthetic intact. 

In her 2015 DG article “Going Deep: Possession (1981),” Sharon Gissy posits that one of the lenses that the “incredibly rich, complex, and nuanced film” can be viewed through is in its use of color. Most of POSSESSION is shot against monolithic greys and whites, making the sporadic use of darker colors all the more intense. TF1’s restoration preserves these colors while also recoloring the reds and blacks just enough to make them pop more on screen. Small changes such as these make the viewer more engrossed in the world of this fucked-up tale.

The 4K restoration of POSSESSION is a must-see for anyone even remotely interested in cult genre films. Whether you are seeing it for the first time or rewatching a favorite, make sure you scream and writhe your way to the closest screen available. You won’t regret it.

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Erin Brady

Erin has loved the bizarre and macabre since she was a child. This early fascination has led her to become a film and culture writer whose works on horror have been featured in Collider, Fangoria, and Little White Lies among others. When not watching movies and writing about them, she can be found writing short stories or re-watching Death Note for the millionth time.

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Tags: Andrzej ?u?awski, Beyond Fest, Fantastic Fest, Isabelle Adjani, Metrograph PIctures, possession, Sam Neill, TF1 Studios