This film starts with a shot of a lonely looking man walking through what appears to be a meadow wearing very old fashioned clothes, we later find that this is Randolph Henry Ash. This scene seems a bit odd as the subsequent ones are set in the present day. Roland Michell is a literary researcher for Professor Blackadder, as there is a poetry festival coming up Roland has been researching Randolph Henry Ash. Randolph is a totally fictional character, who is a popular Victorian poet. Whilst Roland is undertaking an assignment to find out how much Gooseberry Jam Ellen Ash made in 1859 he makes an amazing discovery.
A book in the London Library which Roland has been using for his research looks to contain original love letters written by Randolph Henry Ash to a woman other than his wife. This throws Roland into manic confusion as it was thought that Randolph never so much as looked at another woman. Roland takes some leave from his work with Blackadder and decides to visit another literary authority, Dr Maude Bailey. Roland has narrowed down Randolph's mistress to one of three women, and with Maude's help he is able to discover which one. Maude is also an expert on the focus of Randolph's affections, Christabel LaMotte, who was thought to have lived with her lesbian lover, Blanche Clover, and never so much as looked at a man.
Using the poems of both Randolph and Christabel, Maude and Roland are able to trace their love, their adventures and even discover how and why they parted.
After meeting at a dinner party one evening Christabel and Randolph become good friends and regularly write to each other. However, Christabel's partner, Blanche, grows to be very suspicious of these strange letters which are hidden from her view. She confronts Christabel, who says they are from a friend, but troubles continue between the pair even after the letters cease. Eventually they can no longer be together and Christabel goes to meet Randolph. They spend time together in hotels, on the beach, they even find a hidden cave behind a waterfall. Roland and Maude find this after reading one of Christabel's poems, however they are perplexed by a time when both authors go quiet. As it happens Randolph took Christabel to France in 1859, during which time Blanche commits suicide after trying to speak to Ellen Ash with little luck. Things really begin to turn nasty when Christabel falls pregnant.
During their quest for the truth Roland and Maude's relationship begins to mirror that of the Victorian lovers. To be honest this was an expected cliché but all in all it doesn't spoil the film as there is a fair bit of the reality of falling in love included in this film. For some time Maude and Roland feel uncomfortable around each other and continue to do so after their first kiss, but all comes good in the end, just like real life!
After their first major discovery Maude makes the mistake of telling her on again, off again boyfriend, Fergus, that she has found some original evidence of Randolph's affair. Fergus quickly tells Cropper, an antique collector, for whom money is no object. Throughout the film Cropper and Fergus are on the trail of our young lovers, though they do not seem to get on well.
I think that the last scene of this film complements the first scene and really brings this story together, but together these scenes and in fact whole story are very sad.
I really enjoyed this story, though I did find the relationship between Maude and Roland a little odd. I cannot fully explain why but somehow it just does not seem genuine, it seems to be a slightly prudish, almost Victorian relationship. I don't know if this is what was intended or just some bad acting. The acting of the Victorian characters is far better, more realistic and easier to believe.
Here are just a few quotes that really sum up this movie
"I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed."
"They say that women change: 'tis so: but you are ever-constant in your changefulness, like that still thread of falling river, one from source to last embrace in the still pool ever-renewed and ever-moving on from first to last a myriad water-drops."

Director - Neil LaBute
LaBute started his career as a playwright, influenced by people like David Mamet,. He made his debut in Hollywood with the low-budget 'In The Company Of Men' back in 1997, for which he had written the script. He was critically acclaimed for his work with 'Nurse Betty' in 2000 and was again noticed after directing Possession in 2002. Throughout his career he has worked with some big stars, Rene Zellweger in 'Nurse Betty', Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Possession, and many more.
Overall I thought that the direction of this film was satisfactory, not amazing and certainly not terrible but somewhere in the middle. I think the transition between book and film may have lowered the overall intensity of this story. So much has been crammed into this film I think that this has made the film direction poor. However the juxtapositioning of the Victorian love and the modern day lust is portrayed very well throughout the story.
Neil LaBute also directed the 2006 production The Wickerman. I did not enjoy this film, I think that the directing style of Neil LaBute may not be in line with my high standards, not to say that he is a bad director just that his work is not to my taste.

Executive producers - Len Amato and David Barron
Producer - Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein
Co-producer

Pictures of Possession (DVD)

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Certificate 12