Possession

Rating:
Summary: A Nice way to Spend an Evening
Review: I enjoyed this DVD, even though the story line was no where near as complex as the A.S. Byatt novel from which it was adapted -- and I think I was not disappointed because I knew that would be the case. Another reviewer said that the portions set in the 19th century were the best parts, and I agree. Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle are outstanding as the lovers who will only be allowed a brief time together. Ms. Ehle is a wonderfully talented actress (as far as I am concerned, she is the definitive Elizabeth Bennett)with a face that accurately registers emotions so that the viewer is never in doubt as to what the character is feeling or thinking. Jeremy Northam is excellent -- it was his skill as an actor that kept the final scene in the movie from being maudlin. I thought Gwyneth Paltrow did an adequate job in the role of Maud, as it was written for the screen. However, Aaron Eckhart was a poor choice for Paltrow's romantic interest and fellow-academic. I didn't for one minute believe he was a student of 19th century British literature; I thought at first I was being influened by his performance as the biker-lover in "Erin Brockovitch," but the truth is that he just wasn't convincing and seemed uncomfortable in the role. The British countryside was lovely, the story is interesting and romantic, and due to Northam and Ehle I recommend this DVD as a nice way to spend the evening. If you want more depth, buy the book.

Rating:
Summary: Romantic and literate
Review: Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart play two modern-day literary scholars who team up to investigate the truth behind an old love letter that appears to show that a Victorian poet known for marital fidelity (Jeremy Northam) was actually involved in an affair with another poet (Jennifer Ehle). Parallel tales unfold: the two Victorian poets long to give free rein to their passionate natures but are constrained by their society, while the academics in our own anything-goes age are constrained by their own cautious natures. Such levels add interest to the story.

This is a romantic film about intelligent people who think about what they do rather than just fall into bed. People who love words will appreciate the fine dialogue and poetry in the screenplay (by David Henry Hwang, Laura Jones, and director Neil LaBute). Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A story unfolds after newly discovered letters...
Review: The American graduate student, Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart), works on his thesis in England concerning the British poet Randolph Henry Ash. During Roland's free time he does extra research in the London library where he by chance discovers an unsent letter to a woman, which is of great importance in understanding Ash's work. Roland seeks help from Professor Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is an expert on Christabel LaMotte, since Roland suspects that Ash's letters were meant for LeMotte. Despite resisting the idea, Maud helps Roland and they become engrossed in the search for the true story behind Ash and LaMotte. As Roland and Maud research the past of Ash and LaMotte they read newly discovered love correspondences between Ash and LaMotte. While Maud and Roland read the letters the audience experiences vivid flashbacks as they can see what happened to Ash and LaMotte. Possession begins with an interesting idea that turns into a love story, which is touching as it develops as Roland and Maud read the letters. In the end the audience gets to experience a good film, which leaves the audience with some thoughts in regards to love.

Rating:
Summary: Passion inspires passion!
Review: The film has some superficial similarity to The French Leutenant's Woman. Both films are based on novels about 2 love affairs separated by a century. But that is where the similarity ends. Possession is a love relationship that develops between an American grad student (Roland Michell) and an English Woman (Maud Bailey) who already has her Ph.D. She is drawn into a research project by the young American to uncover a secret love affair between a famous poet (Randolph Henry Ash) and a poetess (Christabel LaMotte) who was related to Maud Bailey. Like her she was, for her time an independent woman. Unlike her she was living in a lesbian relationship. The poet,Randolph Henry Ash, was married, but the marriage was childless. As the two researchers conduct their secret reconstruction of the affair from secret lost-- until now -- love letters, the British woman (Paltrow) and the American student begin to fall in love. Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart play their parts well and are quite believable even if Gwyneth's English accent is a little over done. Jeremy Northam is excellent as always as Ash. And Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice) was outstanding as Christabel LaMotte. This is not the typical Hollywood love story. Lesbians might be offended as well as the feminists who might think this is some kind of ... against the independence of women. Only women can have children and to point that out might be thought politically incorrect. The thoughtful folk will ignore this nonsense and just enjoy a good story in a film with superb performances.

Rating:
Summary: Love Letters
Review: "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!

Rating:
Summary: Needs a bit more
Review: An impossible film to translate from an excellent book, but it does give it a good try. Possession is a competent film with good acting and wonderful art direction. Yet at 90 minutes, it simply condenses far too much. Some characters barely appear on the screen.

The writers and directors should have given themselves far more room.

What can I say? Read the book

Rating:
Summary: Read the Book Instead
Review: I realize that a movie version remaining entirely faithful to the book would be impossible to make, but, frankly, I expected more. The director eliminated characters, combined scenes, and failed to convey on screen the passion and pain that drive the story. Aaron Eckhart is totally miscast as Roland Mitchell--Jeremy Northam, who plays Randolph Henry Ash, would have been better in Eckhart's role. Mitchell is supposed to be a scruffy, shabby academic, but he looks, according to a good friend of mine, like he just stepped out of a J. Crew catalogue. (Well, that, and Eckhart is a lousy actor.) Mortimer Cropper, who is so devilishly evil in the book, lacks development. He's the type of guy you just love to hate, but in the movie version, he's not nearly as nasty as he should be. Gwyneth Paltrow and the actress who plays Cristabel LaMotte (her name escapes me--she played Elizabeth Bennett in "Pride and Prejudice") save the film. "Possession" isn't a bad adaptation, but it could have been better. I recommend the book instead.

Rating:
Summary: Cinematic Foreplay in the Highest Sense
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good
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. One could list several such examples, the most obvious being Steven Spielberg growing up with the release of Schindler's List. Although nowhere near that scale, Neil LaBute's Possession fits neatly into that category.

Perhaps best known for the disturbing (some would say misogynistic) In The Company of Men and the dark reality (some would say sociopathic) Your Friends & Neighbors, Possession provides LaBute with some variations. For one thing, it's the first 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 previous films.

Disclaimer: I read the book only after I saw the film so I'm not going to base this review on any aspect of it except to say I highly recommend it as well.

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 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 simpler 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's and Ehle's characters come across as so much more believable than Paltrow's and Eckhart's. 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 that 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 of the 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 of the film.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific
Review: Don't expect this to be a faithful rendering of the book, because it's not a weeklong mini-series, it's a 2-hour feature film. It captures the spirit, magic, passion and obsession of the novel while thankfully stripping away much that is boring and slow. I loved the novel, but that was despite its flaws. I would never re-read it as I have true masterpieces like Middlemarch, but I've seen Possession three times and fall more and more in love with it. Every performance is perfect.