Possession (1981)

Product Information

part of Jewish "ghost stories" and are at least somewhat related to very famous myths like that of the succubus Lilith. some extremely clever disc author has offered in Hebrew until you select each individual entry, at which point they The restoration took quite a while and you will see that we left a flaw in the image during a scene. Defect present on existing copies and negative. Sometimes societies remove these flaws that have always existed, we preferred to leave them. freely admits in his commentary is supposed to give the viewer the idea that "someone—or something—is watching us",

More From Mondo Vision - a collection of trailers for Mondo Vision's DVD releases of Andrzej Zulawski's La femme publique, L'important c'est d'aimer, L'amour braque, and Szamanka. In French and Polish, with imposed English subtitles where necessary. (11 min). As is stated more than once in the extra features, Possession is a film you either love or hate, and if you loathe it then too bad because I adore every minute of the bold bugger. Gorgeously directed and featuring two genuinely extraordinary central performances, it's a unique and almost unclassifiable film, part relationship drama, part horror, part political allegory, and a good deal more. Second Sight has done the film proud with this Blu-ray, with a solid transfer of the director's cut of the film supported by an excellent selection of top quality special features. Highly recommended.Excluding some light banding that I spotted (the most obvious example being early into the film, in the sequence where Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani's characters meet in front of the apartment complex) as well as some low noise that occasionally pops up, the technical presentation of this once quite controversial film is indeed very impressive. It is also quite the revelation. There is an entirely new color scheme that apparently reinstates the type of look Andrzej Zulawski desired and all visual effects, most notably solarization enhancements, that were added to the U.S. re-cut version of the film are now completely removed. Needless to say, if you are familiar only with the U.S. re-cut version of Possession, more than likely you are going to be quite surprised by the look of this new Director's Cut of the film. Daddy splitting up. When Dad stops at a yard sale and younger daughter Em (Natasha Calis) falls in love with an Adjani's performance in Possession is undoubtedly one of the greatest from the early '80s. It is indescribably intense and truly unsettling. In 1981, the French beauty won a well deserved Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. It's interesting how he mentions that the previous transfer also had some inherent errors which had to be corrected - one of those being the same highlight clipping people have complained about with LCQF's transfer. Director Andrzej Zulawski, most ably prompted by Daniel Bird, comments in impeccable English on all aspects of the film, including how the project developed, his specific reasons for shooting in Berlin, casting the lead roles, the use of specific colours, the doppelgänger motif, working with the crew, the autobiographical elements, and a whole lot more. It's a little unsettling to discover that the man his own partner left him for had the same name as his on-screen equivalent and that Mark's later assault on him was driven primarily by Zulawski's hatred of the man. Specific scenes are explored in detail and there's even the occasional bit of lively verbal sparring between the two when Zulawski disagrees with a point Bird is making. Surprisingly, perhaps, Bird doesn't challenge Zulawski when he claims that the Steadicam wasn't yet invented when they shot the film, given it's prominent use three years earlier in John Carpenter's seminal Halloween. Perhaps my favourite Zulawski quote of all here comes late in the commentary when he complains that "most of the good films have disappeared because they don't want to bite any more." Absolutely. A first-rate extra.

really are talking about, I am able to offer translations of the menu options on The Possession, which French producer Christian Ferry concisely recalls how he first worked with Zulawski and the films on which they collaborated. The color grading people seem to like are the releases that used the old 2K master. The releases that used the new 2020 4K master (LCQF 4K UHD, Umbrella 1080p Blu-ray) people have not liked as much. But Umbrella insists their upcoming 4K release is sourced from the only director-approved 4K transfer that exists (which may or may not be the exact same LCQF used). Other releases may tweak that master, and people may even like those tweaks better - but since the director has passed its hard to argue that any tweaks to the sole 4K director approved restoration wouldnt be more revisionist than the aforementioned director approved 4K transfer untouched. Eric Veaux Interview - Andrzej Zulawski has written several novels. Eric Veaux has translated them from Polish into French. Presented here is a video interview with the translator in which he discusses his working relationship with the Polish director. The interview was conducted by Jean-Philippe Guigou. It was produced by Mondo Vision. In French, with optional yellow or white English subtitles. (22 min).The excess and gore in this film effectively mask Zulawski's condemnation of the system. In 1978, this exact same approach within a different context was used by the Polish director in his On the Silver Globe, whose production was halted by the Polish authorities after they became suspicious of its intent. ( On the Silver Globe is a science fiction film but also with a clear political message). In other words, the "horror" in Possession is nothing more than a needed distraction in what is essentially an angry political film.

say the devil's in the details. Or, perhaps, maybe the devil made the disc author do it. Either way it's a fitting metaphormagically transform into English (see the last screenshot accompanying this review). Well, okay, confession time: I can

The generic, unlike previous video releases, was made from the original negative so it's beautiful anyway. So, either this means the new release is, as you say, "director approved" with an asterisk, i.e. they use the old restauration as a baseline for their tinkering with the 4K transfer, or the French rights-holders are lying and claiming that he approved the 4K transfer. Andrzej Zulawski Interview - in this video interview, director Andrzej Zulawski recalls how Possession came to exist and discusses the socio-political climate in Poland at the time when the film was made. The Polish director also discusses the unique qualities of the main characters in Possession, Isabelle Adjani's legendary performance, and the film's visual style. The interview was produced by Jerome Wybon for TF1 Video in 2009. It also appears on the Region-B release of Possession. In French, with optional English subtitles. (36 min). What ensues is a perfectly rote example of exactly what you'd expect about any film that follows in the formidable wake became enamored of Bernstein's version of The Dybbuk, in fact, I went to the Jessica Lange film Frances,It's finally happened: my extremely rudimentary knowledge of Hebrew has paid off. Instead of struggling to haltingly Play Movie" and the like, there are some issues, shall we say. As many of you who don't even have a been opened! It's just patently ridiculous, an insult to both folklore and religion in one fell swoop.