[Editorial] Desire and Identity in Possession (1981)

Trigger warning for domestic abuse, manipulation, and divorce.

My first reaction to the title of Possession was to assume that this will be an occult film, maybe along the lines of The Exorcist. However, upon seeing the film, it more closely resembles a   family drama, similar to what we see in Ari Aster’s Hereditary. However, it is still an intense, striking horror about a messy divorce and its effects on the couple, their son, and others around them. This leads me to consider the title of Possession. Who is possessed? What is the possession?

This film has many allegories that can be deciphered in various ways. Primarily, it is about divorce and separation. At the time, writer and director Andrzej Zulawski was going through his own divorce and leaving Poland after his film On the Silver Globe was shut down. Possession begins with a shot of the Berlin wall with “The Wall Must Go” written in German upon it. The wall is a background to most outside shots with what seems like soldiers watching from the other side. This creates a claustrophobic feeling of no escape, paranoia and a world divided.

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Something in this world is not right; everything seems a bit off. For example, the camera circles around Mark in his meeting, zooming in and back out again while Anna often looks directly into the camera as though talking to the audience. Her shots follow her and zoom close to her face creating a sense of voyeurism and being unable to escape. The gravity-defying rocking chair and Heidrich’s behaviour when he visits Mark looking for Anna suggest that things are spinning entirely out of control. It seems everyone in this film is infected. 

The acting, particularly by Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani, is intense. (Adjani won the César and Cannes awards for Best Actress). Mark and Anna's passion and disdain for each other is overwhelming. However, they are frustrated with each other creating a divide through obsession and destruction mirroring the divide created by the Berlin wall. Mark wants Anna to come back to him, seeking an answer as to why Anna is leaving; whilst Anna is pushing away. In what is first interpreted as desired independence, she appears to be caring for another dependant, which she cannot reveal until he is "finished".  They cannot stand each other but seem to see each other in those they are infatuated with.

The title of Possession could be a reference to the relationships between the characters. All have selfish needs except Bob and Helen, so they lack empathy for each other until later in the film when Mark and Anna grow closer with disastrous consequences. They strive for belonging, whether to each other or to their own identity. Our possessions reflect our identity, we invest memories and emotions into our possessions and moments shared with other people. Seeing people as possessions is a toxic trait and as a result, Mark and Anna’s relationship has become toxic. Mark needs Anna to feel worthwhile. He quits his job because he believes his family needs him, so when Anna rejects him by asking for a divorce, it flips his world, and Mark loses his identity.

Mark displays possessiveness, he is jealous, abusive, and paranoid, which creates fear, anger, and emptiness. This fear leads Mark to plead with Anna, “If I lay at your feet and yelped like a dog, would you still step over me?” which she does. He snoops around Anna’s belongings, looking for clues about the affair using his skills as a spy. He questions her whereabouts and who she is with. He repeatedly slaps Anna in frustration and anger, but she still pushes away, creating a barrier with passing traffic which appears to unleash something in her. Finally, she becomes independent, walking away on her own.

Both lack empathy for others around them and are only concerned with their own needs and desires. However, other characters have their own objectives. Heinz Bennent as Heinrich is captivating and utterly bizarre. He dances around, speaking in riddles. At one point, he says, “through disease, we can reach God”, whereas Anna says in another scene, “God is in me”. This feels connected, as though Heinrich is trying to reach Anna. He also describes bending to Anna’s ways. Although he portrays a sexually free spirit, he is possessive of Anna. He calls Mark to tell him Anna belongs with him and warns Anna, “don’t resist me, you know I’m stronger than you” when he goes to her apartment after drunkenly visiting Mark, begging to be liked and to know where Anna is. Heinrich is insecure and lost and neither he nor Mark can contain Anna.

Mark doesn’t understand why Anna would not want to be with him or Bob anymore. He has a projected image of Anna, remarking to her that: “when I'm away from you, I think of you as a monster or a woman possessed, and then I see you again and all this disappears.” However, this is contrasted when he later says, “for the first time, you look vulgar to me”.  Anna does come to see Bob at the apartment and seems to enjoy his company until Mark enters the room. When Mark and Anna meet in the café, they face away from each other, the corner creating a divide. Bob is the topic of conversation and Mark offers to send money for child support but says he will not see his son, which rattles Anna. Bob, in this case, becomes the forgotten ‘possession’. He is left alone, covered in jam for weeks, until Mark comes home. Bob is a child of divorce, experiencing loss, confusion, and anxiety. The rejection of new people could be why Bob runs to his safe space when Mark’s doppelganger arrives, or, on a more supernatural level it could be that Bob senses Mark’s doppelganger and flees to safety.

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Heinrich’s mother, played by Johanna Hofer, is a doting mother to her son. Yet, he appears embarrassed to still live with her when she enters while Mark is visiting their apartment. She stands by knowing that Anna is married but is grateful to see her son happy, even if it is at someone else's expense. She understands Heinrich is dead, and Mark killed him without being told. She expresses that his soul is gone. The soul is an essential feature in Possession. For example, as Mark’s double progresses, he seems to lose more of his soul, acting differently and recklessly. Elsewhere, when Henrich’s mother dies knowing she has lost her son the window opens which signifies in some cultures an allowing of the soul to move on. 

Although Possession is a psychological horror, the creature adds an otherworldly quality to this film. Looking at Possession from a spiritual viewpoint, it often appears that the creature is calling Anna and later Mark with Anna often switching from manic to calm and poised. It gives the impression that she is fighting something within her, but when Anna is beckoned, she is composed.

Mark’s identity could be lost from early on. He reflects the people around him like a mirror—the fighting with Anna, followed by the curiosity of the creature, even mimicking Anna by self-harming with the meat cutter. He observes and plays with Bob like a child. Even when Anna tips the truck, he turns to play football once he spots the children as though nothing happened, and when Mark sees Helen at school after their failed night together, he sulks. With Heinrich’s mother, he is compassionate, but it feels mimicked, and with Heinrich, he is competitive. Loss of a home, a relationship, or a job can lead to a lack of identity. The identity here is literally and figuratively divided.

Overall, Possession is about a marital breakdown during the cold war era in Berlin. It references separation, borders, and loss of identity, politically, geographically and as a family unit. The wall  in the background is no accident. Many fled from East to West Berlin when the wall was first erected, causing a lack of identity and many families to be separated. The wall is a depressive background of persecution and lack of hope. At least 170 people were killed trying to get around the Berlin wall. Mark theorises, “I guess when you’re there, you want to be home, and when you’re home, you want to be there”. Basically, the grass is always greener on the other side. The creature is alluring to Anna but takes the form of Mark, someone she already had. 

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