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#I smell some of the same brain poison that characterized the johnny depp/amber heard “mutual abuse” talking point
cardinaldrama · 2 months
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So I watched Possession (1981) last night and all these people analyzing the movie are calling it a "breakup movie" and saying it's "obsessed with division" like ? Did we even watch the same thing ? I get that they're both manic and that's kinda the point but Anna clearly states multiple times that she's not interested in Mark anymore. And in response he screams, cuts off her sentences, gets up in her space, does all he can to prevent her from going anywhere. Gee, I wonder why she wants to leave him. But the reason she can't is because there's a power imbalance, which is reflected in the filmmaking too; look at the contrast between the scenes of them in the apartment (claustrophobic, suffocating camerawork, the space is always a colossal mess) and the scene at the beginning where Mark is talking with those guys in that comically open, unfurnished room. He has so much more freedom than her. Someone in the movie confronts him about this, and he's all like "I don't want freedom". We also get a taste of the backstory when Heinrich's mom tells Mark that Anna came to Heinrich because of how Mark acts toward her. It's just so clear to me that Mark's controlling behavior is the instigator of Anna's madness, it's not some mutual clashing of personalities. The blueprint for ending the relationship is right there, the obstacle is that Mark literally won't let Anna leave him!! Is my reading of the film. And the film is so real for that, 10/10, but like what am I missing?
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