While visiting his favorite resort town during the off-season, a novelist investigates the apparent suicide of a woman he was infatuated with.
The Possessed: Giallo Movie Reviews
The Possessed is the first movie in my return to watching Italian Giallo films since my years-long hiatus. I am used to watching Dario Argento-esque gialli type of films but I wanted to venture and explore more of what other filmmakers had to offer, especially those pioneers who paved the way for filmmakers such as Argento, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci, and others. The Possessed is based on the novel, La Dona del Lago (The Body of the Lake) by Giovanni Comisso and purported to be based on an actual murder mystery case known as the Alleghe Killings. Like The Possessed, the real-life case was plagued with many questions and doubts about what happened. Of course, The Possessed is told through an entertainment medium, film, where there is little doubt that directors Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini took creative liberties when telling the story.
Our protagonist, Bernard, played by James Baldwin, returns to his favorite resort hoping to be inspired to write his next novel. But, what really drew him back to this locale is his fascination or, rather, obsession with a beautiful maid, Tilde (Virna Lisi). When he learns that she passed away, Bernard goes on a quest to unravel what may have really happened to Tilde who was said to have died by apparent suicide. Believing that there may be more to the story, Bernard goes down a web of lies, mistrust, and mystery unsure of who he can or cannot trust.
The film presents us with the unreliable narrator, Bernard, in that we see his thoughts portrayed on-screen on what might have happened to Tilde through his own eyes and perspective. Bernard weaves his own tale based on rumors and whispers amongst the townsfolk. This leads us to question his motives and whether or not to trust Bernard despite him being the protagonist of this narrative. Although seemingly good, Bernard is also portrayed as a voyeur, possible stalker, clingy, and possessive with his fantasies and infatuation with Tilde, a woman he had hardly known. Still, the audience is forced to trolley along with Bernard, and I found it hard to see him as anything but the “good guy” even though I also often found myself questioning his behavior and intentions.
If I am being honest, having been introduced to giallo cinema by way of Dario Argento’s Deep Red, Opera, and Tenebrae, The Possessed was a much tamer type of film; I was waiting for the “gialloness” to get started – the deep red blood, violence, the mysterious and nefarious killer, the POV stalking by said killer, etc. None of this was present. The pace of The Possessed is what many today would consider a slow burn, and that may put some off, especially if you expect to see a slew of graphic murders and technicolor red for blood. No, this is not that film. Yes, there are aspects of Gialli in The Possessed, but I compared this more to film noir. Sure, there are close-ups of eyeballs, a POV shot but not of the killer, and Bernard was an amateur sleuth. I would liken this to pre-giallo, a film made on the precipice of the official rules of what makes a Giallo film Giallo. Still, this does not in any way take away from the film. The Possessed is excellent in portraying a mystery and presenting questions; a whodunnit, and even at the film’s conclusion I was still left pondering exactly what happened. Did Bernard imagine a lot of things? Was his infatuation and obsession with Tilde the root cause of what may have been a lapse in judgment and grip on reality? The black and whites in the film were crisp; shadows and silhouettes graced the screen with excellent composition and cinematography. The Possessed, to me, was a perfect blend of Italian giallo and American film noir.