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11/06/02
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Possession (2002)
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Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:16
Rotten:16
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Based on Byatt's novel of the same name, Possession is a lovely, literate romance.
Theatrical Release:Aug 16, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $10,058,448
Synopsis: Set in both contemporary and Victorian England, POSSESSION, directed by Neil LaBute, is based on the novel by A.S. Byatt. The tale begins with Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart), a laid-back American... [More]
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle
Director: Neil LaBute, Barry Levinson
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Reviews for Possession
Top CriticFor a movie that purports to be about the passions of love and language, Possession is remarkably prim.
09/26/02
Top CriticJust about everything in this dry bit of business seems limp, building toward a poorly staged scene in a graveyard, which could be just where this slumbering bit of folly will land.
08/18/02
Top CriticWhat's supposed to be a deep examination of the transcendence of love and art and poetry turns into another shallow film about how repressed the British are.
08/16/02
Top CriticPossession, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
08/16/02
Top CriticIt may be faint praise, but praise nonetheless, to say that LaBute (and co-writers Laura Jones and David Henry Hwang) have done the best they can with A.S. Byatt's Booker-winning 1990 novel.
08/16/02
Top CriticIt's potentially exciting material, but what we see onscreen is somewhat less than that.
08/16/02
Top CriticStraightforward and old-fashioned in the best possible senses of both those words, Possession is a movie that puts itself squarely in the service of the lovers who inhabit it.
08/16/02
Top CriticOne of those movies adapted from a beloved novel whose fans can't believe it's been brought to the screen. They turn out to be right.
08/16/02
Top CriticA lush, genteel romance of the Merchant-Ivory school that qualifies as a guilty pleasure.
08/16/02
Top CriticUltimately, the film never recovers from the clumsy cliché of the ugly American abroad, and the too-frosty exterior Ms. Paltrow employs to authenticate her British persona is another liability.
08/16/02
Top CriticCompelling material, especially for those who believe that the lives and loves of the dead can impact the trajectory of the existences of the living.
08/16/02
Top CriticSplit between two periods -- modern-day England and the England of a century ago -- the movie has little time to breathe emotional life into either world.
08/16/02
Top CriticSome books just aren't meant to be movies, and Possession is surely one of them.
08/16/02
Top CriticCatch your breath, kindred spirits: Possession is the most romantic movie to come our way since The English Patient.
08/16/02
Top CriticIt's sexy to observe two couples who think and debate their connections, who quote poetry to each other, who consciously try to enhance their relationships by seeking metaphors and symbols they can attach to.
08/16/02
Top CriticIf you're expecting Linda Blair's head to spin around at some point, you might want to skip it.
08/16/02
Top CriticPossession is in the end an honorable, interesting failure. It falls far short of poetry, but it's not bad prose.
08/15/02
Top CriticOn its own cinematic terms, it successfully showcases the passions of both the director and novelist Byatt.
08/15/02
Top CriticLaBute can't avoid a fatal mistake in the modern era: He's changed the male academic from a lower-class Brit to an American, a choice that upsets the novel's exquisite balance and shreds the fabric of the film.
08/15/02
Top CriticLatest News for Possession
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