I came out of watching Possession with a mixed impression. It was uneven and weak in places, but I found myself appreciating it on the whole, as though I knew it was a pretty good film but couldn't, for the LIFE of me, figure out why. Having had some time to reflect on it, though, I feel I'm able to put a few of my thoughts out more concretely, and maybe my impression of the film will shape itself through my writing.
Basic synopsis of the film, to start: Roland Mitchell (Eckhart), an American scholar living in England, comes across a pair of mysterious letters written over a hundred years previously by poet laureate Randolph Henry Ash (Northam). He enlists the help of Maud Bailey (Paltrow), a fellow scholar that specializes in the works of Christobel LaMotte (Ehle), the woman Mitchell suspects of being the secret lover. The film shows the parallel stories of the 20th century investigators and the 19th century lovers, and how the two relationships change as time passes.
Firstly, the "good": Northam and Ehle are fabulous. Their characterizations and commitment do more to convince the audience they have gone back in time than the camera tricks or the voice-overs. Both actors are totally compelling and make their scenes shine a little brighter than the rest of the film. The story is intriguing, and the camera work is clean and sharp, realizing each scene without overshadowing the acting with trickery.
On the "less good" side: it felt to me as though the modern story fell flat. Eckhart is a good actor, but in this film he's like a 1956 Cadillac El Dorado, coughing and sputtering out in the beginning, but eventually turning into a smooth ride. Paltrow isn't called on to do anything the audience hasn't seen her do before, which isn't to say that she's bad: she's good, but it's nothing new. And the story suffers a little in the modern scenes as well; the dialogue falls apart during the romantic scenes, and the chemistry is hit-and-miss. I wasn't wanting to skip through the modern scenes, or anything, but sometimes I looked forward to the past storyline a little more earnestly than I would have liked.
So, Possession is an uneven film, but definitely worth watching. The story pulled me in enough I looked past the flaws. Even when I groaned out loud. (7/10)
Basic synopsis of the film, to start: Roland Mitchell (Eckhart), an American scholar living in England, comes across a pair of mysterious letters written over a hundred years previously by poet laureate Randolph Henry Ash (Northam). He enlists the help of Maud Bailey (Paltrow), a fellow scholar that specializes in the works of Christobel LaMotte (Ehle), the woman Mitchell suspects of being the secret lover. The film shows the parallel stories of the 20th century investigators and the 19th century lovers, and how the two relationships change as time passes.
Firstly, the "good": Northam and Ehle are fabulous. Their characterizations and commitment do more to convince the audience they have gone back in time than the camera tricks or the voice-overs. Both actors are totally compelling and make their scenes shine a little brighter than the rest of the film. The story is intriguing, and the camera work is clean and sharp, realizing each scene without overshadowing the acting with trickery.
On the "less good" side: it felt to me as though the modern story fell flat. Eckhart is a good actor, but in this film he's like a 1956 Cadillac El Dorado, coughing and sputtering out in the beginning, but eventually turning into a smooth ride. Paltrow isn't called on to do anything the audience hasn't seen her do before, which isn't to say that she's bad: she's good, but it's nothing new. And the story suffers a little in the modern scenes as well; the dialogue falls apart during the romantic scenes, and the chemistry is hit-and-miss. I wasn't wanting to skip through the modern scenes, or anything, but sometimes I looked forward to the past storyline a little more earnestly than I would have liked.
So, Possession is an uneven film, but definitely worth watching. The story pulled me in enough I looked past the flaws. Even when I groaned out loud. (7/10)