Possession (1981)

Returning home from a "mission" (perhaps some sort of espionage), a man (Sam Neill) finds his wife (Isabelle Adjani) having some sort of violent breakdown and he suspects she has been unfaithful. But it isn't long before he too succumbs to this mysterious "illness". Directed by Andrzej Zulawski, this is a divisive film. There are those who loathe it and find it pretentious and silly while others find it audacious and stimulating and pushing the envelope. On one level, it's a portrait of a marriage unraveling in a chaotic world where nothing makes sense anymore and on another level, it's a horror film (not unlike Cronenberg's THE BROOD) where evil manifests itself physically from repression. Don't expect realism. The characters seem to exist in a parallel universe, a bleak sparsely populated city and the dialog is stilted which only adds to the other worldly atmosphere. I have rarely seen two actors so committed to their roles as Adjani, who won the Cannes film festival best actress award as well as the Cesar (the French Oscar) for her performance here, and Neill. They go all out and their risk taking pays off. It's truly a one of a kind experience but definitely not for everyone. With Heinz Bennent, Margit Carstensen and Johanna Hofer.