Possession (2002)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

That was an excellent one.

I'll tell you why so serious

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I never would have figured Neil LaBute for an A.S. Byatt fan, but he seems to have been the one that saved this project from development limbo. I thought Gwyneth and Aaron Eckhart did just fine as the modern lovers—they're like one of those Hitchcock couples that get handcuffed together and then fall in love. It might have been better if we'd seen more of Ash and LaMotte, the Victorian poets (especially as embodied by the radiant Jennifer Ehle), but this standoffish, screwed-up, commitment-shy pair are clearly LaBute's kind of people. The script gets a little goofy at about the halfway mark, but that's really Byatt's fault, IMHO. On the very first page, she warns the reader, via an epigraph from Hawthorne, that the writer of a "romance" can get away with stuff (paraphrasing here) that a regular novelist can't. After the trail goes cold, she summons up two huge honking coincidences to keep our young scholars on the case. In the novel a goddess ex machina—specifically an American lesbian cultural-studies prof—turns up with a crucial journal, and in the film you have to be paying pretty close attention to figure out why they're in France all of a sudden; later on, Eckhart's character just happens to overhear the baddies plotting their next move. Despite a few rough patches like this, I'd still recommend the film to fans of the novel; not sure what others will make of it. Great care was obviously taken with every aspect of the production; nice to see a younger, brunette Lena Headey, of "Game of Thrones" fame, as LaMotte's other lover.

Possession is a romantic and mysterious film based on the novel of the same name by A. S. Byatt.It film tells the story of two scholars, Roland Michell and Maud Bailey, who investigate the affair of fictional Victorian era poet Randolph Henry Ash, described in letters between him and another fictional poet, Christabel LaMotte.The movie stars Aaron Eckhart,Gwyneth Paltrow,Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle.It is written and directed by Neil LaBute.While the film probably won't leave you swooning, it is at least an earnest love letter to its transcendent source.It consists of quality of the acting, and the Brits -- Northam and Ehle -- invest their forbidden love with centuries of fine repressed English tradition.Despite the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart lead the cast, their performances as modern characters rank second to Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle.Unfortunately,what is 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.Aside from acting,there is nothing else about this film as it pass as either an After School Special for adults or a Love Story for the new millennium.Or worse,a closeted comedy.

As a student of English Literature A. S. Byatt is one of my favourite writers and I read the book with curiosity. I never watch a movie which is based on a novel before reading the novel itself and this was like this also.It's a very very long and condensed book. After the book I watched the movie and at some point, like towards the end I thought that I read the book wrong. The scenario is awful that it is not about the book. It is kind of an independent screenplay.This is not fair for such an awesome book!!! The movie killed the book!!!

After watching the movie, I now want to read the book. I am a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow. She reminds me of Catherine. This is a great romantic movie that has great flashbacks between 21st century and 19th century England. Great plot. I think the main character played as an American worked - somewhat out of his depth when playing against the the Maud Bailey character - but it seemed natural that they were attracted to each other. Just as Jonathan is attracted to Catherine, and yearns to be close to her, so Roland's and Maud's desires surface and cannot be denied. The story unfolds with elements of mystery that keep you wondering. And, what makes this move for me is that, at the end, all the main characters in the story have "happy endings"... this is what I feel makes for a great romantic movie. If only it was so in real life.