Themes: Star-Crossed Lovers, Opposites Attract, Writer's Life
Main Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle, Jeremy Northam, Lena Headey
Release Year: 2002
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In Neil LaBute's film adaptation of A.S. Byatt's Booker Prize-winning 1990 novel, Aaron Eckhart (who has starred in all of LaBute's films) plays Roland Michell, an American academic researcher, working in London, who discovers some important letters written by a famous Victorian poet, Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam [Gosford Park]). Ash was presumed to have been totally devoted to his wife, but Roland finds letters written to another unnamed woman, and soon determines that the intended recipient was another, less well-known poet, Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle of Sunshine). Roland contacts Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), an expert on LaMotte's life and work, who tells him that LaMotte couldn't have had an affair with Ash because she lived most of her life with a female companion, Blanche Glover (Lena Headey), in what was apparently a romantic relationship. Despite Maud's skepticism, the two begin to investigate, and uncover a wealth of information about the affair between the two poets. Period scenes of the illicit relationship between Ash and LaMotte are intercut with the contemporary investigation of the two academics. Roland and Maud initially fight their attraction to each other, but as the pair find more evidence of the historical and tragic romance, they find themselves overcoming their own resistance to romantic entanglement. Possession was kicked around as a film project for a long time before LaBute became interested. Director Sydney Pollack originally was slated to film a screenplay by David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), who receives a credit on the finished film. When LaBute took over the project years later, he reworked the screenplay with Laura Jones (The Portrait of a Lady). ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the marks and pleasures of a talented filmmaker is in the works that tend to break away from their established genre and stretch their skills in a direction previously unexplored. Neil LaBute's Possession fits neatly into that category as it provides the writer/director with some variations on his previous work. It's the second film he's made not based on his own original work, the source material instead coming from the popular novel by A.S. Byatt. Also, there are elements of period drama involved, most decidedly a departure from the modern focus of his other films. Possession is the story of two modern literary scholars, played by Gwyneth Paltrow and LaBute regular Aaron Eckhart, who together try to uncover the hidden relationship between a 19th century poet laureate, played by Jeremy Northam, and a lesser-known poet played by Jennifer Ehle. As they uncover more and more clues, their own relationship begins to take on the characteristics of the one they are studying. It sounds much more simple than it actually is, as the plot also involves something akin to a heated scholarly competition to discover the truth, but that is very much secondary to the two relationships. The film shifts back and forth between time periods, and some of the overall highlights involve the clever means by which these transitions are carried out. The look of the film is magnificent, with the contrast between the Victorian era and modern times very clearly demarcated -- the Victorians live in a lush, richly colorful world, while the present-day scholars work in an almost antiseptic academic setting. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Northam and Ehle come across as so much more believable than Paltrow and Eckhart. All the performances are decent, at least to the point where they don't distract from the film, but Paltrow's character is established as too much of a cold fish to allow the audience to believe she could actually give herself so completely to Eckhart, no matter how likeable and studly he is. On the other hand, Northam and Ehle generate an onscreen passion that appears not only genuine, but deeply moving when circumstances remove their affair from their own control. This is another feather in LaBute's cap -- a true love story from a man whose debut film chronicled cruel toying with a stranger's emotions. Though somewhat underrated, Possession has many attributes of a film that will stand the test of time. Not only does it have romance between very attractive personas, but it also has enough of a plot and clever cinematic tricks to hold interest for the entire length. ~ Dan Friedman, All Movie Guide
Paul Ghiradani - Art Director, Andrew Sanders - Supervising Art Director, Mary Selway - Casting, Stephen Pevner - Co-producer, Jenny Beavan - Costume Designer, Richard Styles - First Assistant Director, Neil LaBute - Director, Frank Gell - Second Unit Director, Claire Simpson - Editor, David Barron - Executive Producer, Stephen Pevner - Executive Producer, Len Amato - Executive Producer, Guy Tannahill - Line Producer, Gabriel Yared - Composer (Music Score), Luciana Arrighi - Production Designer, Jean-Yves Escoffier - Cinematographer, Barry Levinson - Producer, Paula Weinstein - Producer, Ian Whittaker - Set Designer, David Crozier - Sound/Sound Designer, Laura Jones - Screenwriter, David Henry Hwang - Screenwriter, Neil LaBute - Screenwriter, Mark Taylor - Re-Recording Mixer, Mark Auguste - Supervising Sound Editor, A.S. Byatt - Book Author
