This Possessor review may contain minor spoilers…
Thank god for Brandon Cronenberg and Possessor. Before the digital release of his new sci-fi psychological thriller, 2020 has, with few exceptions, failed to turn out much in the way of compelling cinema.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays to almost all major theatrical releases this year. True, streaming services have picked up some of the slack – His House and I’m Thinking of Ending Things being two notable examples – but there’s been little to get excited about for the most part. One exception was Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s latest mind-bending sci-fi effort. In our book, it was needlessly complex and too ambitious. It also failed to energise the film-going public to return to theatres. Luckily, Possessor, in all its gory and malevolent brilliance, has filled the gap left by Tenet and stuck with me as perhaps the best film this year.
Andrea Riseborough is Tasya Vos, a ‘possessor’. Possessors are assassins who infiltrate the bodies of other people to take out their targets. It’s an engaging premise and wonderfully reminiscent of Inception. Riseborough’s performance, while relatively small due to the nature of the film, is chilling. She clearly loves her job (a little too much judging from the delight she takes in butchering her targets) and shows she will hide the truth and sacrifice her health and her family to do it. Without straying into spoiler territory, her portrayal of dissociation and alienation accentuates the psychological anxiety of the movie to a fever pitch.
The opening sequence of Possessor is a textbook example of “show, don’t tell”. We are introduced to Holly (Gabrielle Graham), a young woman who, stood in front of a mirror, plugs a wire into her scalp, twists a dial on a connected machine, and displays a range of different emotions as if to calibrate herself. This scene is sublime – it’s baffling to watch but the range Graham portrays is quite extraordinary. From here, we get our first glimpse of the brutal reality Possessor presents. It is unnerving and difficult viewing, but the emotionally complex portrayal of internal conflict with an external force makes for a thoroughly engaging and enigmatic opening sequence.
When things don’t quite go according to plan for Vos, we are shown a difficult, almost painful, extraction from the machine that enables her to possess others. She looks like a wretched shell of a person, her appearance astutely mirroring the vacuous soul of someone who relishes in manipulating and destroying lives. It’s a credit to Riseborough for such a visceral performance and to the makeup team for creating her harrowing visage.
For Vos’ next assignment, she must infiltrate the body of Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott). He’s the underachieving boyfriend of Ava Parse (Tuppence Middleton), the daughter of CEO John Parse (Sean Bean). John and Ava are Vos’ targets in a shady attempt to stage a corporate coup. For Vos, there’s no heroic or justifiable motivation for why she does what she does. John is a successful billionaire, but he’s clearly a bastard. His yuppie daughter is no more likeable outside of her appearance and fondness for Colin. With this, Possessor offers a delightful taste of ‘eating the rich’, but empathy, or loss of it, is its key sub-text. Vos’ complicity as the wilful assailant in this scheme (from which she will benefit extraordinarily little) illustrates her complete lack of compassion or regard for life. The post-assignment interview scenes between Vos and her chief, Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh), are a testament to this – and their wonderfully ponderous nature reflects that of Inception’s famous spinning top.
Borderline gratuitous gore and nudity is used in parallel to the emotional weight of Vos’ actions and her alienation from her family. It may well prove too much for some. But overall, its use is undoubtedly effective and doesn’t detract from the presentation. In fact, it helps to characterise Vos in a similar way to The Bride in Kill Bill. A softer approach may well have diluted the film’s message.
Possessor would have stood out in a normal year, but in 2020 it’s difficult to argue there has been anything better. From the outstanding performances – Christopher Abbot’s impression of Vos doing an impression of Tate being a particular highlight – to the wonderful cinematography and old-school special effects, there’s nothing here not to love. Vos – who cares more about inflicting pain than getting the job done properly – is both brilliant and utterly hateable. She’s a thoroughly compelling anti-hero, and one that deserves to be revisited. In the age of ‘free’ streaming, I don’t often purchase individual films digitally. But Possessor was worth every penny of its £6.99 Prime Video price tag, and it makes me think 2020 isn’t an entirely lost cause after all.
Overall rating: 9.5/10
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Featured Image Credit: Signature Entertainment
