Mother, monster in Berlin

Press, 7 March 1983, Page 13

Mother, monster in Berlin

cinema

hans petrovic

POSSESSION Directed and written by Andrzej Zulawski I think it only fair to let the devil out of the bag right at the start and let it be known that “Possession” (Midcity) is another of those monster movies of the “Rosemary's Baby” genre. In fact, there is not much difference in the basis of the story — only the telling. This time, we move from the more familiar setting of New York to the deserted streets and over-modernistic, antiseptic apartments of Berlin.

Both films were made by East European directors: Poland’s Roman Polanski chose to tell his Americanmade “Rosemary’s Baby” in a straightforward style, gradually building to the climax with overlapping hints of malevolence.

Ukrania’s Andrzej Zulawski opted for the more melodramatic form of European over-acting and directing, with plenty of arty touches, which make “Possession” sometimes difficult to follow, but also make it an automatic candidate for any film festival. In this version of “To the Mother a Devil,” a man (Sam Neill) returns home to find that his beautiful young wife (Isabelle Adjani) is leading a double life.

The young woman has, indeed, always been promiscuous, and she has always tired quickly of her lovers and abandoned them. Unstable, she seeks a fulfil-

ment that has always eluded her and which she has never been able to discover in work, in marriage or even her innermost self. She and her husband have a son, and she looks after him off-handedly by day; but she disappears from their apartment at night and reappears only the following morning. The husband refuses to admit that his marriage is a failure. He suffers, he struggles and eventually learns the identity of his wife’s lover. Not unexpectedly, his rival (Heinz Bennent, in fine, ma-cho-Germanic form), turns out to be his exact opposite. Where the husband is strict, the lover is amoral; where the husband is plodding, the lover is worldly. Nevertheless, they have something in common: the lover is every bit as frustrated as the husband, for his mistress is cheating on him as well. In desperation, the husband hires a private detective. But the wife kills the detective when he discovers the existence of the sorry apartment she rents — one, in which she obviously does not live alone. This third rival, of course, turns out to be a monster. A creature, if she is to be believed, who came into existence by emerging from herself; a creature she has created from her own body, without knowing how.

In the process of giving birth to this monster, the young woman has transgressed all moral laws. For the entity she has created is nothing more nor less than evil — and looks it. If for nothing else, “Possession” would be worth seeing for the scenes of mother and monster making love. With all those tentacles and other slithery things, it is

obvious that he has got it in for her.

The special effects which, mercifully, are brief, were created by Carlo Rambaldi, who has won Academy Awards for his work in “King Kong” and “The Alien.” Miss Adjani, who plays two roles in the film, is a strong, attractive, young actress who has had other close encounters with the occult in Polanski's “The Tenant,” and Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu” A cross between Jeanne Moreau and Pam Dawber, of “Mork and Mindy” fame, she won the best actress award at the 1981 Cannes International Film Festival for “Possession.” Sam Neill, as the distraught husband, also has tackled this devilish subject before in “The Final Conflict,” the third of the “Omen” movies. He again shows that he can hold his own in overseas productions, be they made in Australia, the United States or Europe. To set the record straight, however, let me point out that New Zealand’s best--1 known film actor was born in Northern Ireland of a father of Australian descent. ' The story, as expected, is silly, although it is laced with sufficient symbolism and intellectual pretensions to make one wonder about a more profound meaning. Possibly, the statement by the mother, "I am the maker of my own evil; goodness is only a reflection of your own evil; that’s all it is,” sums up the film’s mixed metaphysical metaphors. Nevertheless, “Possession” is a welcome change from the run-of-the-mill fare at the other cinemas, and it is for such a purpose that an “arty” theatre like the Midcity is a welcome addition to the centre of Christchurch.