| POSSESSION Rating:   Producers: Barry Levinson & Paula Weinstein Director:: Neil LaBute Writers: Neil LaBute, David Henry Huang, Laura Jones based on a novel by A.S. Byatt Director of Photography: Jean-Yves Escoffier Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Jason
White
8/13/02
Based on A.S. Byatt's 1990 novel of the same name, the romantic mystery Possession, shot on location in the UK, follows a pair of literary scholars who uncover the hidden love story of two Victorian poets. By stumbling upon a series of clandestine love letters, written by the poets themselves, the two literary sleuths discover something more powerful than they originally intended -- true love.
Gwyneth Paltrow is Maude Bailey, a keen English academic who lives her life as if it were some sort of sick organizational class -- strictly by the book. She is doing research and has become an expert on the life work of Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). Meet Roland Michell, played by Aaron Eckhart (Erin Brockovich). If you looked up a definition of poor man's Harrison Ford, you'd see this guy -- an upstart American scholar with rugged looks who is in London on a fellowship to study poet Randolf Henry Ash's life work. Randolf, played by Jeremy Northam, was better known in modern day academic circles for his collection of euphoric late life poems, which he dedicated to his wife. However, this is a temporary page in history as Roland and Maude set out to uncover the true inspiration behind Randolf's work, unearthing the sacred love letters across the English countryside, reliving the taboo relationship between Randolf and Christabel in the process.
On paper this sounds like a great project for hyphenate Neil LaBute, having written and directed some of the more provocative relationship genre films in the past decade like In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors. But I did say on paper. This story tries to establish two modern day people who have just given up on finding love, jaded to the entire institution. Outside of the fact that Paltrow phones in her performance (by the way, I LOVE this actress in most of her films), we aren't even given sufficient data to believe these two have had it rough and do deserve each other. This is tragic because the story tries so hard to kind of parallel the affair two historical figures had with a love story two modern day people are enveloping, causing the payoff to fall way flat. Simply put, I didn't believe they needed each other. Rule One: when telling a story about two people who are destined to fall in love with one another, show us why they are destined to be together. Take the characters down to the dregs and make us feel their pain. This point aside, LaBute's film visually is actually very beautiful, showing the magnanimous landscapes of England, in addition to capturing the regal world of the late Nineteenth Century through a series of genius cross-cuts. Also to LaBute's credit, he does add his signature element of disturbing relationship/social truths, making the audience at times cringe and other times laugh, but deep down we know there are many accuracies to what he's shown us, whether we want to admit it our not. Performance wise, Jeremy Northam (Happy, Texas, Gosford Park) plays a romantic poet so convincingly, it would make Daniel Day Lewis or Sir Anthony Hopkins proud.
In overview, the film is pretty decent
or as my mother would say, "Jason, it's just cheap entertainment,
stop being so stubborn and enjoy it for what it's worth."
You will be entertained, whether you're a female checking out
the eye candy who is Aaron Eckhart or a more mature audience who
can appreciate the proper, yet rapturous love affair of two Nineteenth
Century poets. Oh, I left out the male crowd, and though not impressed
by her performance, Gwyneth is well, Gwyneth. And one last thing
I forgot to mention: in the summation of the film I said that
Christabel LaMotte and Randolf Henry Ash had an affair. I also
mentioned Randolf had a wife, but I didn't say anything about
Christabel's relationship with her significant other. Well, fellas,
she was a lesbian. Enjoy.
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