THE POSSESSED (1965) – The Blu Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

Originally entitled The Lady of the Lake—a much more accurate title then The Possessed—this is a unique genre film that is part noir, part art film, and is also considered a proto-giallo film.

Based on a hit book that was based itself on a notorious Italian murder, The Possessed tells the tale of  Bernard, a lost and depressed author (played by Peter Baldwin) and a hotel maid, Tilde (Virna Lisi), whom Bernard has become obsessed with.

The film opens as Bernard makes his way to the isolated hotel where he first met Tilde, and where she still works.  It is winter and the hotel is closed for the season.  However, Bernard has had some success with his first novel so the proprietor welcomes him with open arms.  Soon, though, Bernard discovers that Tilde has committed suicide since he was last at the hotel.  Or perhaps it was murder.  Small towns sometimes have a way of creating drama where there is none.  Small towns also have a way of discovering the actual truth to events, no matter what the official explanation may be.

Bernard, who is devastated by the turn of events, is drawn into a web of intrigue that involves witnesses to the aftermath of the crime, photos of the victim just prior to her death, and the seeming involvement of everyone at the hotel.

Directed by Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini and co-written with Giulio Questi, The Possessed is a fascinating mashup of various genres.  Bazzoni only directed a handful of films and is probably best remembered for his spaghetti western Man, Pride and Vengeance along with the giallo The Fifth Cord, both of which starred Franco Nero.  Rossellini—yes, from the famous film family—produced only a handful of movies, but many of them were prestige productions from the likes of Pasolini and Fellini, and also included the infamous Bob Guccione/Tinto Brass film, Caligula.  The Possessed was his only directorial effort.  Questi was a screenwriter responsible for two very unique genre films, the giallo Death Laid an Egg, and the surreal spaghetti western Django Kill…if You Live, Shoot!

The Possessed is a unique film, based upon a real-life murder, which takes elements of the giallo and mixes them with noir, all with an arthouse flavor.  There is the common giallo theme of sexual obsession, though less elaborate than it would become in the early 1970’s.  Bernard is in love with Tilde but knows the girl has been promiscuous in the past.  This may or may not be connected to her mysterious death.  Too, there is the concept of distorted memory that is slowly pieced together, bit by bit, as the movie unfolds, feeding the audience juicy details until the final reveal.  And finally, there is the theme of a once-prominent family –in this case, the family who runs the hotel that keeps the village alive—falling from grace as sordid secrets unfold.

At the same time, the film can also be seen as a classic whodunit, or psychological mystery.  Filmed in lush black-and-white, the overall feel of the film is noir-ish, as Bernard wanders the lonely, shadowed halls of the empty hotel and the silent, windswept shore of the lake at night.  The film can sometimes become a bit obtuse as Bazzoni and Rossellini perhaps rely too much on washed-out flashbacks and dreams to add mystery and detail to the story.  In one bizarre scene, Bernard watches the now-dead Tilde make love to a strange man in one of the hotel rooms. But it is just a memory rushing back to Bernard, though it throws the viewers off a bit with its insertion.

There is also Tilde’s father, a drunkard who lives deep in the woods and seems to know something more than he is telling.  He tends to walk the streets of the village at night shouting at the shuttered windows of the villagers’ homes as he seeks resolution during his drunken state.  But he is not as forthcoming with information when sober.  Bernard also meets the local photographer who insists the crime scene as described in the official report is different than the one he stumbled upon.  And he has a photo—never recovered by the victim before she died—that seems to show her in…how should we put it?  A delicate state, so to speak.  Then there is the hotel owner’s son, who is masterful with butchering tools and who is rumored to have been involved with Tilde just before her death.  This can’t possibly be true, as he is already married to another girl, the delicate and sickly Adriana (Pia Lindstrom), who herself seems to harbor a secret she badly wants to tell someone.

In the end, The Possessed is a captivating and entertaining murder mystery, less giallo than psychological drama.  It is beautifully filmed and well-acted even if sometimes a bit confused with flashbacks, dream sequences, and other bits of memories floating throughout the film. It remains an important transition in the history of the giallo film and a solid, if a bit obscure, entry into the psychological drama genre.

Arrow Video USA has just released The Possessed in a special edition which contains a Blu-Ray version of the film in a brand new 2K scan from the original camera negative.  The film looks and sounds as if it was just produced this year.  An audio commentary by Tim Lucas is essential to learning about the history of this particular film and the giallo genre in general, and there are several special features that place the film in its proper historical perspective while exploring the themes and people behind the film.  These include a newly-filmed video appreciation of the film itself, an interview with the film’s makeup artist, the famous Giannetto De Rossi, an interview with assistant art director Dante Ferretti, and a documentary about the Bazzoni brothers and their film careers.  Also included are trailers for the film as well as, for the first pressing, a booklet with new writing on the film.

The Possessed is now available for purchase at Amazon or you can purchase the film directly from Arrow Video at http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/category/usa/.