(Andrzej Źuławski, 1981, West Germany/France, 124 minutes)

After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 1981 (where Isabelle Adjani deservedly won Best Actress, in a joint award between that and Quartet, also playing as part of Adjanuary), the international co-production but English-language Possession suffered a checkered release in most English-speaking territories, including seeing release in a dreadfully truncated 81-minute cut in America and landing on the “Video Nasties” list in the U.K. A movie like this can never really go away, though. Whispered about for decades on account of Adjani’s performance, surely one of the all-time craziest committed to celluloid, lurking in import or bootleg form, and eventually seeing more official and higher-quality releases in its original cut, with a 2021 4K restoration finally snowballing it to legendary status. Taking elements from the domestic drama, body horror, creature features, and more, in addition to Adjani we have a stellar cast, including Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill as Adjani’s husband and Fassbinder favorite Margit Carstensen as one of Adjani’s friends. Lensed by Bruno Nuytten, who was in a relationship with Adjani at the time, and later directed her in her second Oscar-nominated performance in Camille Claudel. Possession won Adjani the first of her record five Césars for Best Actress.

January 15 screening features an introduction and post-film discussion from Victor Putinier, PhD candidate in French and Francophone Studies and Film and Media Studies at WashU.