Possessor
Possessor (film)
| Possessor | |
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| Directed by | Brandon Cronenberg |
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| Written by | Brandon Cronenberg |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jim Williams |
| Cinematography | Karim Hussain |
| Edited by | Matthew Hannam |
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Running time | 104 minutes[1] |
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| Language | English |
| Box office | $752,885[2][3] |
Possessor is a 2020 science fiction psychological horror film[4] written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg. An international co-production of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, the film stars Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Possessor had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020, and was released in the United States and Canada on October 2, 2020, by Neon and Elevation Pictures. It was released in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2020, by Signature Entertainment. The film was particularly praised for its originality and the performances from Riseborough, Abbott, Leigh, and Gabrielle Graham.
In an alternate 2008, a woman named Holly Bergman sticks a probe into the top of her head and turns the dial button on a machine. Afterwards, she attends a party as a hostess for the Blue Night Sky Lounge, where she unexpectedly attacks and brutally murders a wealthy attorney. She takes out a gun and puts it in her mouth, but then aims it at the police, who shoot her dead. In a futuristic facility, a woman named Tasya Vos is removed from a conical machine. She is a "possessor": a contract killer whose consciousness is implanted into the body of another person in order to carry out an assassination. Tasya was controlling Holly’s body and committed the murder, but couldn't overcome Holly's resistance to committing suicide.
During a post-assassination debriefing by her boss Girder, Tasya identifies objects of her past to prove that her sense of self is intact. One of the objects is a mounted butterfly, which she expresses regret for killing as a child. She wants time to reconnect with her estranged husband, Michael and son, Ira. When she visits them, she must rehearse how to engage in ordinary conversation, showing that she is unsteady in civilian life. Tasya's next job is one of the biggest ones the company has ever received. They've been hired by Reid, the stepson of John Parse. John is the CEO of a massive corporation, Zoothroo, which operates in data-mining. Reid wants them to assassinate both John and his daughter, Ava, so that he can inherit the company. Girder is excited because, once the job is done, the company will also be able to control Zoothroo via blackmailing Reid.
Tasya is instructed to possess Ava’s fiancé, Colin Tate. The company abducts him and implants a neural device in him. After successfully possessing Colin, Tasya wakes up in his body and lives his life, finding herself potentially attracted to Ava. She is blindsided by interactions with Eddie, a co-worker at Zoothroo, and Reeta, a friend of Ava's whom Colin has had an affair with. On the day of John's dinner function, Girder instructs Tasya to have Colin get into a public argument with Parse to establish a motive for the later assassination.
After verbally insulting John and causing him to physically retaliate, Colin is thrown out of the party. That night, while Ava and John are discussing their family history, Colin manages to sneak into the manor, picking up a fireplace poker as a weapon. After Ava has left for bed, Colin meets and viciously attacks John with the poker, instead of the company-issued gun, dismantling his teeth and blinding him in one eye.
Hearing her father's screams in the dining room, Ava witnesses her father's assault in horror. Initially missing and shooting her in the back, Colin catches up to a crawling and bleeding Ava and shoots her in the head. Her assassination complete, Tasya is once again unable to commit suicide in Colin's body. Back at the headquarters, Tasya surges and vomits up blood while hooked into the machine and the staff says that Colin has reasserted control. They want to disconnect her, but Girder orders them to give Tasya more time to reassert control.
Traumatized by his actions, Colin runs to Reeta’s home, appearing disoriented and recounting false memories. Soon after, Eddie arrives, claiming to have been contacted by Reeta to help Colin but instead knocks Colin out. When Colin awakens, he is connected to a recalibration machine and Tasya is seemingly back in control. Eddie was working for Tasya's employers the entire time and was planted as a lifeline for her in case anything went wrong. He explains that she needs to complete the suicide and then they can pull her out, but Tasya says that she isn’t fully in control. Eddie says that he will help her override Colin’s consciousness through a series of tests and recalibrations. News reports reveal that John Parse survived the failed assassination.
During the overriding, Colin’s consciousness enters the room and attacks Tasya. After initially choking her, he crushes her head in, pulls off her face, and wears it as a mask, thereby accesses Tasya's memories. Their combined form blacks out. When Colin awakens, he finds Eddie dead in the bedroom and Reeta dead in the shower. He tracks down Tasya's house based on her memories, and holds Michael hostage. He and Tasya's consciousness talk on the psychic plane; with Colin threatening to kill Michael if Tasya doesn't explain herself or what has happened, and Tasya taunting and even encouraging Colin to shoot her husband.
Michael disarms Colin but he butchers Michael to death with a meat cleaver. Tasya asks to be pulled out, but is still unable to make Colin commit suicide. Suddenly, Colin is stabbed in the throat by her son Ira. As he bleeds out, he shoots Ira dead; before he expires, Ira also asks to be pulled out, indicating someone else has been controlling him. Tasya is removed from the machine connecting her to Colin, while Girder is revealed as Ira's possessor, also removed from her machine.
During the debriefing, Tasya remembers killing the butterfly, but does not express remorse, suggesting she has lost the empathy she previously had, effectively becoming a perfect assassin without any ties.
Cast[edit]
- Andrea Riseborough as Tasya Vos
- Christopher Abbott as Colin Tate
- Rossif Sutherland as Michael Vos
- Tuppence Middleton as Ava Parse
- Sean Bean as John Parse
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Girder
- Kaniehtiio Horn as Reeta
- Raoul Bhaneja as Eddie
- Gage Graham-Arbuthnot as Ira Vos
- Gabrielle Graham as Holly Bergman
Production[edit]
In May 2018, it was announced Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott had joined the cast of the film, with Brandon Cronenberg directing from a screenplay he wrote. Fraser Ash, Niv Fichman, Kevin Krikst, and Andrew Starke will produce the film under their Rhombus Media and Rook Films banners. Telefilm Canada will produce the film, while Elevation Pictures will distribute in Canada.[5] In February 2019, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stacy Martin and Sean Bean joined the cast of the film.[6] In May 2019, Tuppence Middleton joined the cast of the film, with Middleton replacing Martin.[7]
Filming[edit]
Principal photography began on April 9, 2019.[8]
Release[edit]
On November 2018, Well Go USA Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film.[9] The film later had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020.[1][10] Shortly after, Neon acquired distribution rights to the film, with Well Go USA only handling the film's home media release.[11] It was released in the United States and Canada on October 2, 2020.[12][13] Signature Entertainment will distribute the film in the United Kingdom.[14] It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2020.[15]
Reception[edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 134 critic ratings are positive for Possessor, and the average rating is 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "Further refining his provocative vision, writer-director Brandon Cronenberg uses Possessor's potentially over-the-top premise as a delivery mechanism for stylishly disturbing thrills."[16] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17]
The film's opening sequence was singled out for praise, particularly Gabrielle Graham's performance as Holly in the sequence. David Ehrlich from IndieWire called it "a coldly compelling prologue"; and Wendy Ide from Screen Daily agreed: "In a memorable cameo role in the film’s opening, Gabrielle Graham also makes an impact."[18][19]
Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting gave the film a score of four-and-a-half out of five, writing: "Like dad David Cronenberg, Brandon Cronenberg has a unique way of testing the boundaries of comfort and exploring the human mind and body in squeamish fashion."[20] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film's direction, visuals, as well as its performances, and special effects.[4] Rob Hunter of Film School Rejects gave the film a positive review, writing: "While Possessor retains his family's love of body horror and morally misused electronics it also manages an engrossing pace, engaging characters, unrelentingly brutal violence, erect penises, a must-own Halloween mask, a mean-spirited Sean Bean, one hell of an ending, and more [...] All of it, though, is fantastically and cruelly unforgettable."[21] Chris Evangelista of Slashfilm gave the film ten out of ten, writing: "Bathed in blood and gore, and unrelentingly aggressive, Brandon Cronenberg‘s Possessor is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It is a singular work – one so ghastly, so unique, and so brutal that it will awe some and disgust others."[22]
JoBlo.com's Chris Bumbray gave the film a score of eight out of ten, stating that the film "recalls many of his father David Cronenberg's previous works", Bunbray further praised Abbott and Riseborough's performances, as well as similar praise towards the film's visual style.[23] David Ehrlich from IndieWire also gave the film a grade of "B-", praising Cronenberg's direction as well as the film's cinematography, visuals, and performances, while also stating it did not fully realize its potential.[18]
The film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's year-end Canada's Top Ten list for feature films.[24]
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