As Katherine Hepburn is said to have said of Astaire and Rogers as a team: "She gives him sex appeal and he gives her class." The terminally annoying Gwyneth Paltrow fakes another English accent-pastiche (is she Sloane Square, or is she Oxbridge...or Shoreditch...or all?) that would have driven Prof Higgins mad is there for the SA, along with the ultimately attractive but unwashed/unshaven Aaron Eckardt (sp?) who can't wait to unpin her chignon and reveal the beauty he's sure she must be... And meanwhile, in the background, the class is provided in heaping bucketsful by the ineffable Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle, struggling to get our attention with the real drama, the real story. It's just not fair. Headliner Paltrow guaranteed the movie would be made, but it's Northam and Ehle who make it worth seeing. It's fun to see Tobey Stephens, handsome son of his handsome late father Sir Robert and mother Dame Maggie Smith as a creepy academic. And Anna Massey simply glows in a small role. But rather than see this film, go to any of Northam's and Ehle's previous excellent outings...
Review of Possession
