A Zulawski masterpiece
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jriddle73 — 15 years ago(January 01, 2011 05:07 AM)
Another one to add to your list:
Jess Franco's SUCCUBUS (1968). Makes a nice companion piece to POSSESSION. It's also about a "possessed" woman, it doesn't make a whole lotta sense if you take the plot at face value and it was also filmed in Berlin!
A gem, to be sure! I'm not sure it really works as a "companion piece to POSSESSION, but it is a somewhat similar theme, and a damn good movie.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
jriddle73 — 12 years ago(December 20, 2013 04:41 PM)
A great movie, to be sure. Not sure how it ties into POSSESSION, though.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
Spallone_Spikane — 15 years ago(February 11, 2011 10:16 AM)
Zulawski is now one of my top 5 favorite directors. Another Horror film he made that was sadly overlooked was Diabel (The Devil). That film is evil incarnate. The print for the Polarts dvd is of course terrible, but you should check it out nonetheless. Mondo Vision has the rights to release Diabel, and if you know Mondo Vision, you know that they will do justice to the film. The problem is that they will release the film sometime in 2013. Oh, well.
Mondo Vision is planning on releasing On A Silver Globe this year! Amazing! And I haven't even seen the film yet! -
jriddle73 — 13 years ago(May 19, 2012 11:02 AM)
Yes.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
deRider84 — 13 years ago(July 03, 2012 08:36 PM)
This film is a curious little oddity, but most certainly not a masterpiece by any stretch of imagination. For one thing, the acting is simply awful. Adjani gives one of the most annoyingly grating performances of all time. She either screams or throws herself about like a lunatic in every scene she's in, showing all the range of a baboon in heat. Sam Neil isn't much better, veering as he does between bewilderment and insanity and back again with absolutely nothing in between.
It doesn't work as a horror due to the utter absence of suspense, but neither does it work as an effective marital break-up drama, lacking the gravitas and subtlety needed for such an undertaking. The dialogue is embarrassingly inane and provides no insight whatsoever. Furthermore, there's no arc or pacing of any sort. The characters are as hysterical and nutty at the start as they are at the end and we never develop any empathy or understanding for them. 127 minutes is far too long to expect us to put up with such ridiculous histrionics. I can see how the film may have actually benefited from the wholesale cuts in the American version.
Another big problem is that it's not well photographed and its visuals are extremely bland. There's no effective lighting or contrast, and for all of Zulawski's odd angles and restless camera-work, its aesthetic remains exceptionally plain and off-putting. There's simply no atmosphere of any sort. It looks like an average TV movie.
It's kind of frustrating, because there are some good ideas floating beneath the surface. The doppelganger concept is interesting and the monster copulation and subway miscarriage are appropriately icky and surreal. -
jriddle73 — 13 years ago(July 07, 2012 09:23 AM)
That's the sort of review that could only happen in the era of Fox News, when everyone suddenly feels entitled to their own reality, whether it has any connection to actual reality or not.
On this other Foxworld, in this strange other version of POSSESSION, Isabelle Adjani's work "is simply awful" and "one of the most annoyingly grating performances of all time"; in the real world, the performance earned her best actress honors from both the Cannes film festival and the Caesar Awards (the French Academy Awards). On Foxworld, this version of POSSESSION "looks like an average TV movie," which means television in Foxworld is a
hell
of a lot better than in the real one; in the real one, the film put director Zulawski in competition for the Palm D'Or at Cannes, the festival's highest honor. I feel sorry for the people in Foxworld; by being there, they've managed to miss a great movie.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
Lawdog1527 — 13 years ago(July 07, 2012 04:11 PM)
So what you're saying is FoxNews controls the thoughts an minds of all modern culture and is attempting to subvert the analysis of a 30 year old French film?
And that you've somehow personally ascended beyond that and therefore are intellectually superior to anyone who disagrees with you or doesn't share your same ideologies.
Furthermore, once a film is given an award such as the D'Or it is unimpeachable from than point forward.
You're an idiot, my friend. -
jriddle73 — 13 years ago(July 07, 2012 08:59 PM)
You're an idiot, my friend.
And
So what you're saying is FoxNews controls the thoughts an minds of all modern culture and is attempting to subvert the analysis of a 30 year old French film?
Most amusing.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
paguy27 — 12 years ago(April 08, 2013 04:12 PM)
"This film is a curious little oddity, but most certainly not a masterpiece by any stretch of imagination. For one thing, the acting is simply awful. Adjani gives one of the most annoyingly grating performances of all time. She either screams or throws herself about like a lunatic in every scene she's in, showing all the range of a baboon in heat. Sam Neil isn't much better, veering as he does between bewilderment and insanity and back again with absolutely nothing in between.
It doesn't work as a horror due to the utter absence of suspense, but neither does it work as an effective marital break-up drama, lacking the gravitas and subtlety needed for such an undertaking. The dialogue is embarrassingly inane and provides no insight whatsoever. Furthermore, there's no arc or pacing of any sort. The characters are as hysterical and nutty at the start as they are at the end and we never develop any empathy or understanding for them. 127 minutes is far too long to expect us to put up with such ridiculous histrionics. I can see how the film may have actually benefited from the wholesale cuts in the American version.
Another big problem is that it's not well photographed and its visuals are extremely bland. There's no effective lighting or contrast, and for all of Zulawski's odd angles and restless camera-work, its aesthetic remains exceptionally plain and off-putting. There's simply no atmosphere of any sort. It looks like an average TV movie.
It's kind of frustrating, because there are some good ideas floating beneath the surface. The doppelganger concept is interesting and the monster copulation and subway miscarriage are appropriately icky and surreal."
My vote for dumbest beep I've ever read on IMDB. -
jriddle73 — 13 years ago(February 27, 2013 05:35 AM)
bump
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/