Possession
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Movie Reviews of Possession
Movie Review: Love Letters
Summary: 4 Stars
"Possession" directed by Neil LaBute starring Gwyneth Paltrow was the last thing in the world I ever expected to enjoy watching. I only saw this film because I had already seen everything that was playing in my local theathre except this. I was bored wanted to go out, so I figured, why not?I had no clue what this film was about, so everything that took place just suprised me. And, maybe that was the best way to see this film. "Possession" is a film, I just love! The movie brims with passion. It's such a tender, gentle, extremely well crafted love story, that to resist it, one has to have no life flowing through their veins. It was a suprise hit, that makes me sad to think, not many people will go see this movie. It's something the American public will deem, to "arty".
"Possession" tells the story of how two people, Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart) and Maud Baily (Gwyneth Paltrow) trace down an unknown love affair that took place 100 years ago between two Victorian poets; Randolph Ash (Jeremy Northam) and Christable LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). As the two of them unravel this mystery they themselves start to fall in love also. Now, of course I can't go into any more detail of the plot then I already have. To do so would merely ruin the whole experince for you.
"Possession" is so beautifully told, it's director, Neil LaBute, a director whom I've never watched a movie by, really handled the material with such simplicity that to do it any other way, the story would come off as being forced. The movie just seems to flow, like a good poem it almost carries a lyrical motif. The acting, the cinematography by Jean-Yves Escoffier is so perfect that I just fell under the film's spell.
"Possession" is one of the year's best films and is a film I can only hope will receieve a few Oscar nominations when the time comes. Gwyneth Paltrow, an actress who I usually don't like does a wonderful job. So far it's one of the best performances I've seen an actress give this year. And the screenplay by LaBute, Laura Jones & David Henry Hwang should also get nominated for their adaptation of A.S. Byatt's novel.
Everyone should try to go see this movie. Take a quick break from the loud summer action movies we've been subjected to these past months and enjoy what this film has to offer. You'll be pleased in the end.
Bottom-line: "Possession" is a movie swelling with passion. It's absorbing, sometimes tragic love story carries you away with it. It's one of the year's best films!
Movie Review: Possessed by Love
Summary: 4 Stars
Neil LaBute's "Possession" is a detective story set in modern England circa 2000 and involves two English Lit scholars: Maud Bailey (Gwenyth Paltrow) and Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart). The most unusual thing about this film is the involvement of Neil LaBute, whose previous films would not in any way indicate that he could handle/understand/appreciate this Merchant/Ivory, "Masterpiece Theater" type of material. LaBute heretofore has directed both "Company of Men" and "Friends and Neighbors" both powerful, yet sour films of misogyny and misanthropy. "Nurse Betty," on the other hand was sweet and gentle, with only a bit of the bitterness that marked his previous two films but it was also smart, flashy and contemporary.Roland Michell, through his research of a fictitious poet, Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam) discovers that Ash may have had an affair with one Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). And even though this does not seem earthshaking in itself, it is the 100th year anniversary of the publication of Ash's poems and such news, and the attendant evidence would definitely cause a stir in the academic world.
LaBute manages to make this very esoteric storyline interesting and engaging through
the juxtaposition of the past (Ash and LaMotte) and the present (Bailey and Michell).
The past comes off a bit more successful, I think because the plot is inherently more interesting and having Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle definitely helps. Their iconic faces and manners speak loudly of a time (19th Century) when so much was accomplished through letters and mode of address rather than that of our modern, instant gratification times. Yes, it is a "Romantic" notion but romantic or not, one that breathes with wistful yet chastely torrid reverberations in this film
Paltrow and Eckhart (looking very thin and wolfish) do good work here but they fall in love too quickly and too easily I think. But LaBute may be playing a trick on and manipulating us here: drawing us to make a comparison between the two sets of lovers and knowing that the 19th century lovers will win out in his "will this love last?" test. I wouldn't put it past him.
Neil LaBute has fashioned a film about a very slight, very specific, of interest to only a handful of people subject and made it breathe with life and importance to a 21st Century audience. This is not a small accomplishment.
Movie Review: Victorian Romance leads to Modern Connection
Summary: 4 Stars
"No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed."
While doing research in the British Museum, Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart) discovers letters written by Randolph Ash who had an affair with a lesser-known poetess, Christabel LaMotte.
Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow) knows Christabel's poems by heart and Randolph seeks her out as an expert to help him figure out why a "chaste spinster" and the "married Randolph Ash" never revealed their love to the world. He has one clue, a love letter.
Christabel and Randolph's love is based on a common love of literature and intellectual discussions, poetry and passion. They are like minds that somehow connected and together they find immense happiness despite their circumstances. Although they fight their attraction to one another, they eventually create a world of turmoil and tragedy.
Gwyneth and Aaron have a subtle chemistry but it is not "quite" the mingling of spirits that occurs with Christabel (Jennifer Ehle) and Randolph (Jeremy Northam) and yet there are enough sparks to keep them interested.
"I want to see if there is an us in you and me."
Is passion worth the turmoil and upheaval? Is this the tangle most people want? While the story of the poets is only a memory, Maud and Roland are just starting their journey and are fortunately single when they meet.
Maud and Roland lurk about in divine libraries searching for clues and discover old letters and journals. They are intoxicated by the thought that they can actually solve this mystery. They must conceal their true purpose while searching for clues.
They spend time reading the letters to each other, which is the most romantic "modern" part of this movie. The Victorian "flash backs" are much more entertaining on all levels.
The Victorian romance in this movie is wonderful, but the modern romance is much more subtle. Yet, who would not want to have a man read you poetry in bed?
Adapted from A.S. Byatt's novel by the same name. The movie is not the passionate fire the name suggests. However, this movie will possess you intellectually from start to finish.
Thoughtful Romance with an element of mystery.
~The Rebecca Review
Movie Review: Cinematic Foreplay in the Highest Sense
Summary: 4 Stars
Disclaimer: I have neither read the original novel by A.S. Byatt (though now I definitely plan to) nor have I seen the French Lieutenant's Woman. By only basis for comparison is as a neutral viewer, though admittedly one with a preference for romantic comedies.Having said that, I was completely mesmerized and swept away by this movie. From the first note of the subtle yet soothingly rich score, Possession just draws you in - a love story set in two different eras with evolving standards for love. It's really a simple story, but it delves into the different and often heartbreaking facets of love. Jennifer Ehle delivers one of the main lines and themes of the movie, "No one can stand in a fire and not be consumed." We see how love can both devour and awaken a person, and how beautifully twisted it is.
Though Gwyneth Paltrow headlines the movie, it really belongs to the two leading actors - Aaron Eckhart and Jeremy Northam. Aaron Eckhart, in my opinion, really gives a standout performance. His performances in Erin Brockovich and Nurse Betty were good, but he seemed to be stuck in one-dimensional roles that hardly showcased his talent. In Possession, he finally breaks out of his white-trash male persona to amazing results. He actually lets us see his face sans beard (and it is fiiine and chiseled!) and into the soul of what we ladies desire - the sensitive alpha male. Jeremy Northam once again epitomizes the quintessential Englishman of yesteryear - regal, handsome, and genteel. It's truly an irresistable combination. Jennifer Ehle is wonderful as always. She showcases why she was last year's Tony Award winner for Best Lead Actress. She provides the passion, the heart that Gwyneth Paltrow's character invariably lacks.
This movie is perfect for a Friday night with your man or one of your girlfriends. The scenery alone is worth the trip - the shots of Yorkshire are really breathtaking. Who knew dreary England could be so lush and beautiful? It honestly makes you want to book a trip, a honeymoon to England. Let yourself be caught up in this movie - you'll be glad you did when the lights go on and you realized you forgot to breathe.
Movie Review: Double your pleasure, double your fun
Summary: 4 Stars
This film adaptation of the novel by A.S. Byatt is superb. Its strength lies in the use of the double story line, the double romance, that both develop and intertwine throughout the film.
First we have two modern academics, Maud Bailey, played by Gwynyth Paltrow, and Roland Michell played by Aaron Eckhart. This couple is piecing together the secret romance of two famous Victorian writers, Randolph Henry Ash (played by Jeremy Northam) and Christabel LaMotte (played by Jennifer Ehle). In Byatt's wonderful way of weaving a story within a story, these two modern academic types fall in love as the Victorian secret romance they are discovering acts as a catalyst to their own love affair.
It is wonderfully ironic that the Victorian lovers rush into a passionate and heated romance with terrible consequences when LaMotte's lesbian lover commits suicide while the modern lovers are awkward, cool, frightened of love. Yet it is the flame of the 100 year old romance between LaMotte and Ash that assists in the breaking up of Bailey and Michell's protective armor and allows them to gradually experience vulnerability, and appreciation, and passion, and eventually friendship with each other. This is Byatt's wonderful theme in much of her work, which this film captures, which is that the "story" has the ability to reorganize our cognitive and emotional interpretation of our life. There are terrible consequences and painful events that emerge from LaMott and Ash's romance, and yet our modern lovers gradually recognize that there are also severe consequences in maintaining a cool protective veneer over our emotional lives and they do fall in love and act on that love and they are both wide-eyed open to the possibilities.
In the Victorian romance, LaMott has a child by Ash, whom Ash eventually discovers. But the love of Maud Bailey and Roland Michell are also the children of this romance. The wisdom of Byatt would say that whereas the story of LaMott and Ash kindled the love of Bailey and Michell, the value of any story is now whether this tale of modern reticence to love will stimulate others to take the plunge.