Video Bazaar is thrilled to present a rare screening of the North American theatrical cut of Possession as part of our season, Devils and Shamans: the films of Andrzej Żuławski
After returning home to West Berlin, international spy Mark is blindsided when his wife, Anna, abruptly requests a divorce without explanation. As he attempts to uncover the cause of her sudden detachment, he begins to monitor her, eventually discovering that she is hiding a series of complex and unsettling secrets. As Mark digs deeper, he is confronted with a progression of inexplicable and increasingly volatile events. His investigation descends into a psychological downward spiral, forcing him to navigate the blurring lines between his crumbling personal life and a reality that begins to defy logical explanation.
Set in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, infused with Cold War-era paranoia and tension, Possession is a film that defies classification. One of the most tortured portraits of a disintegrating marriage ever presented on screen, visionary director Andrzej Żuławski masterfully blends horror and thriller conventions into an utterly unique cinema experience, drawing on his own traumatic divorce and creative blacklisting in his native Poland.
The North American cut of Possession was heavily altered to fit a more conventional genre mold. Distributors removed over 40 minutes of the film. They also altered the original score, re-arranged scenes and added footage not present in the original edit. The 1981 director's cut by Andrzej Żuławski focuses heavily on emotional collapse and psychological turmoil. The North American version, however, attempts to make the film look like an alien or monster movie in the vein of David Cronenberg or John Carpenter.
This screening is presented by the cult film club, Video Bazaar, who are proud to present this rarely screened film and are dedicated to bringing the weird, the obscure and forgotten classics to audiences at The Garden Cinema.
