Comrade Courant Culture Critic

Possession (1981): A Shattering Descent into Marital Horror and Existential Chaos "Not a film about possession—but about the horror of loving someone who’s become a stranger." — 4/5 Stars Let’s be clear from the outset: Possession (1981) is not a conventional horror film. It is a psychological exorcism disguised as a marital drama—a raw, unhinged, and deeply personal vision of love’s disintegration, filtered through the lens of Cold War paranoia, religious guilt, and body horror so visceral it borders on the sacred. Directed by Andrzej Żuławski during his exile from communist Poland, the film channels his own divorce, political disillusionment, and existential dread into a work that feels less like cinema and more like a scream carved into celluloid. The story begins simply: Mark (Sam Neill), a spy returning to West Berlin, finds his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) distant, erra...