Possession (film)
From AwardAnnals
| Film: | Possession |
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| Director: | Neil LaBute |
| Genres: | |
| Distributor: | Universal Studios |
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Reviews
Amazon.com
Modern love and classic romantic passion meet in this lush adaptation of A.S. Byatt’s brilliant novel. Academics Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart) and Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow) are experts on the work of two different Victorian poets. As they pursue a possible connection between their subjects, the two sleuths begin to stumble toward a romance of their own. Though it necessarily loses some of the depth of Byatt’s original, Possession is a worthy adaptation, faithful to the book in both story and spirit. Director Neil LaBute uses clever and visually elegant methods of switching back and forth between time periods, subtly contrasting the prickly moderns and the swoony Victorians without making either pair seem unappealing. The movie also does an excellent job of capturing the exhilaration (and the politics) of intellectual discovery, and feels truly romantic without ever getting icky. Though Paltrow and Eckhart both succeed as the modern leads, the real standouts are Jeremy Northam as Randolph Henry Ash and Jennifer Ehle as Christabel LaMotte. Their passion gives the movie its romantic core and makes the whole search worthwhile. —Ali Davis
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With its complex twists and turns, AS Byatt’s doorstopper of a novel Possession is hardly the kind of tale that translates easily to film, even though its switches in time across more than a century are intrinsically filmic. In this adaptation the basic story revolves around two modern-day academics, Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow, a class act, all ice and severe hair) and the young American Roland Michell (the charmingly diffident Aaron Eckhart). They find themselves thrown together as they track a secret love affair between two fictional Victorian poets, Randolph Henry Ash and Christable LaMotte (Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle, both of them eminently convincing costume-drama veterans). As our two modern-day sleuths uncover the truth they (surprise, surprise) find themselves falling for one another.
Director Neil LaBute may have strayed from familiar territory (Nurse Betty) but he’s managed to translate book to screen with compelling directness, and much credit should go not only to the four leads, but also to Lena Headey, who plays the tragic Blanche Glover, LaMotte’s rejected lover. Overall it’s a very lyrical movie, visually a treat for the eye, with the period detail beautifully caught and much beautiful scenery to be had. And the score itself, by Gabriel Yared, seems to encapsulate England in its pastoral beauty. Yes, of course the intricacies of the novel are much simplified, with some characters written out altogether, but its central spirit is retained and it makes for an ultimately compelling experience.
On the DVD: Possession has a pleasingly sharp and well-defined picture quality that makes the most of the fabulous visuals. However, extras are limited. As well as a list of cast and crew and the usual scene selections and theatrical trailer there’s the option of watching the film accompanied by LaBute’s commentary, which is enlightening first time around but probably not for repeated viewing. —Harriet Smith
Barnes and Noble
The turbulent, adulterous relationship between Queen Victoria’s poet laureate and a fiercely independent beauty is chronicled in Neil LaBute’s romantic drama Possession, but it comprises only part of this elaborately constructed, deeply passionate movie. In fact, the romance between Randolph Ash (Jeremy Northam) and the exotic Christabel (Jennifer Ehle) is merely one of two described in LaBute’s film adaptation of A. S. Byatt’s award-winning novel. The other, equally complex and just as engrossing, involves Roland (Aaron Eckhart), an American scholar, and his British counterpart, Maud (top-billed Gwyneth Paltrow). Quite by accident, Roland finds one of Ash’s love letters to Christabel. Maud initially pooh-poohs his discovery but reluctantly helps him undertake a search for the truth—a truth that will change the world’s understanding of the great poet. During this process the two academics fall in love and come to realize that their romance is every bit as star-crossed as the one they’re investigating. This complicated tale is very much at odds with LaBute’s earlier, hard-edged works In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors. In fact, with its sumptuous production, measured pacing, and understated acting, Possession resembles the type of movie you associate with the Merchant-Ivory team. The premise is quite bewitching, and LaBute weaves a spell that makes the film dreamlike, so much so that one is actually disappointed when it ends. That kind of enchantment is rarely found in contemporary movies, and it makes Possession a clear standout among recent dramas. LaBute provides a commentary for the DVD. Ed Hulse
Related works
Possession: A Romance
Possession, for which Byatt won England’s prestigious Booker Prize, was praised by critics on both sides of the Atlantic when it was first published in 1990. “On academic rivalry and obsession, Byatt is delicious. On the nature of possession—the lover by the beloved, the biographer by his subject—she is profound,” said The Sunday Times (London). The New Yorker dubbed it “more fun to read than The Name of the Rose . . . Its prankish verve [and] monstrous richness of detail [make for] a one-woman variety show of literary styles and types.” The novel traces a pair of young academics—Roland Michell and Maud Bailey—as they uncover a clandestine love affair between two long-dead Victorian poets. Interwoven in a mesmerizing pastiche are love letters and fairytales, extracts from biographies and scholarly accounts, creating a sensuous and utterly delightful novel of ideas and passions.
