Polish director Andrzej Żuławski sadly passed away on February 17th at the age of 75 after a long battle with cancer. Żuławski is mostly known for his controversial and violent art-house films. He mostly enjoyed the praise from EU art-house audiences. His most famous film is Possession (1981) which stars Isabelle Adjani as Anna; a young woman who leaves her husband and her lover for a bizarre, bleeding tentacle creature that she keeps in a run-down apartment in Berlin. Anna’s husband thinks she is insane until he finds out the truth about his wife.
Possession is a cult favourite and was one of the classic Video Nasties as it was banned in the UK and later released uncut on VHS in 1999. The film is widely celebrated for its surreal portrayal of female hysteria and its disturbing scenes. The film includes a raw performance by Adjani as Anna as she performs some intense scenes involving screaming, shrieking and throwing her body about to great extremes in true “possession” and madness.
Adjani’s performance is widely praised and she even won ‘Best Actress’ at Cannes Film Festival, Fantasporto and the César Awards. Her performance in hysteria is often quite disturbing to watch as many of her shrieking screams take place during the absence of a soundtrack, which allows us to witness her truly on the edge of sanity. Click here to view the incredibly famous subway scene which ultimately defined Żuławski’s career.
Although Żuławski directed a total of 13 films over his career, Possession is the only one I have had the pleasure of viewing so far. I hop eto venture onto The Third Part of the Night (1971), My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days (1989) and Cosmos (2015) next.
In the meantime, here are some of my favourite scenes from Possession. Rest in Peace, Andrzej Żuławski, you made a big impact in the world of cinema and you will truly be missed.
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