Possessor Uncut Review

During my time in quarantine, I have watched several films of one David Cronenberg, which include Rabid, The Brood and Videodrome (the last of these being my favorite). While looking into Cronenberg’s filmography, I discovered that his son Brandon decided to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming a director and screenwriter. Most of his filmography has consisted of shorts like Broken Tulips and The Camera and Christopher Merk, but he made his proper directorial debut in 2012 with Antiviral. Now he brings us his second feature with the disturbing science fiction horror thriller Possessor (known in the United States as Possessor Uncut). 

The film follows corporate assassin Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough), who eliminates high profile targets by taking control and inhabiting other people’s bodies through brain implant technology. Her latest assignment is to assassinate data-mining CEO John Parse (Sean Bean) by possessing his daughter’s fiancé Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott). However, as it appears that everything is going smoothly at first, it’s revealed that Colin’s will is able to reassert control over his body. Things begin to spiral out of control as both Colin and Tasya struggle for control and dominance over the body. 

A unique sci-fi take anchored by two brilliant performances.

One thing that stands out about this movie is its concept and how it goes about executing it. A premise like an assassin who possesses the bodies of other people in order to carry out their hits can easily be used for action fare and the like. However, Brandon Cronenberg uses the concept in a way that makes it feel like it’s something out of a William Gibson story. A lot of emphasis is placed on how Tasya has to prepare in order to take over somebody’s body. There’s a scene where she spies on Colin, noting things like how he talks, certain speech inflictions that he makes, or the way he interacts with his fiancé. It’s like it’s an actor doing research for a role and rehearsing their performance. There’s another scene where Tasya is debriefing with her handler Girder (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh), where she identifies items from her past in order to prove that her identity and sense of self is still intact after possessing someone. It’s just a really interesting way to portray this concept.

The acting in the film is amazing, especially when it comes to both Riseborough and Abbott. Riseborough has always been an actress I’ve liked from seeing her in things like Mandy or Black Mirror. She’s an underrated actress, and this performance is no exception. She really does a great job of showing the mental strain that possessing people has taken on Tasya, and makes you question her sanity. A scene that stands out for me is where she rehearses lines to say when she visits her husband and son, such as “Hi, darling” or “I’m starving”. It’s a small thing, but really does convey how her work has damaged and scarred her. 

Abbott, on the other hand, has to pull off the job of portraying both Colin, and Tasya possessing Colin, and he pulls off both spectacularly. When playing Tasya-as-Colin, he does a great job at showing her trying to adjust to ger surroundings and new body, as well as improvising when she is blindsided by information that wasn’t briefed on, like how Colin had previously slept with one of his fiancé’s friends. As Colin, he portrays his confusion, anger, and deteriorating mental state as he struggles to maintain control of his body. Abbott carries the majority of the film with his performance, and makes you question whether Colin or Tasya are in control in certain scenes. 

The rest of the cast is great, from Jennifer Jason Leigh to Sean Bean. Bean in particular stands out, as he has a limited amount of screen time as John Parse. But he uses that time efficiently, as he perfectly establishes Parse as somebody who is, in the bluntest terms possible, a loathsome prick. He appears charming and charismatic when holding a gala for his employers, but in private is somebody who is so detestable that not even his daughter can stand him. It’s rather odd seeing him in a role like this when I’m used to seeing him play heroic characters like Boromir or Ned Stark. 

An uncomfortable atmosphere, complete with trippy visuals and visceral violence. 

The movie does a great job at setting a really uncomfortable atmosphere from the beginning. It starts with Tasya possessing a body of a hostess named Holly, sticking a probe into her head and turning a dial, which causes her to start to cry. It’s literally the first thing we see in the movie, and we aren’t given the context of Tasya’s hitman activities. Watching this was really uncomfortable and unnerving, and this uncomfortable tone and atmosphere pervades the entire film. It has an eerie and oppressive feel to it that reminds me of Under the Skin or, to tie it back to Cronenberg the elder, Videodrome. 

The eerie atmosphere goes hand in hand with the visuals the film has. This mainly takes the form of snippets of previous scenes, that are distorted and choppily edited, showing up when Tasya and Colin are fighting for control of the latter’s body. Another example is where it shows the visualization of Tasya taking over Colin’s body. In a scene that reminds me of Altered States, Tasya lays naked in a black void, where her body melts and dissolves before reforming itself in the form of Colin. And the movie even dips into body horror territory, as there’s a brief but memorable image in the film of Tasya and Colin’s faces fused together, which serves as a great visual metaphor for their dilemma. It’s a combination of the uncomfortable atmosphere and trippy visuals that make Possessor one hell of a trip. 

The last thing to note is the film’s level of violence. To say that it gets bloody is really underselling how gruesome, grisly and visceral the film’s violence gets. It’s probably the reason why it’s called Possessor Uncut in the States. I’ve noted before that I consider myself pretty desensitized to blood and violence in film. But this movie had violence in it that had me squirming in my seat or audibly yelling at how brutal it got. A special mention goes to a scene that involves Sean Bean’s character Parse and a fireplace poker. It’s probably one of the unpleasantly violent films I’ve seen, only outranked by stuff like Apostle. In particular, there’s an eye-gouging scene that would make Lucio Fulci proud. 

Possessor Uncut is not only one of the best films of the year, but is overall a provocative, unpredictable, and unsettling movie. Brandon Cronenberg proves that he’s his father’s son with this film, bringing us an original science fiction movie that’s every bit as cerebral as it is visceral. Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott give phenomenal performances, with the latter having to effectively play two parts and carry the movie. It stands along the likes of Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Synchronic as some of the best pure science fiction films I have seen in years. If it piques your interest, then check it out, because I can’t recommend it enough.