LaBute has fashioned an engaging romantic drama -- but without his usual venomous behavioral qualities - that becomes increasingly better as it unfolds across parallel time lines and love affairs.
Comment
08/16/02
Possession (2002)
64
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:154
Fresh:99
Rotten:55
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Based on Byatt's novel of the same name, Possession is a lovely, literate romance.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Dramas
US 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
Reviews for Possession
101 - 120 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
It's potentially exciting material, but what we see onscreen is somewhat less than that.
08/16/02
A gorgeously romantic film of A.S. Byatt's much esteemed novel.
08/16/02
Straightforward 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
The highlights are the writing and the performances.
08/16/02
One 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
A lush, genteel romance of the Merchant-Ivory school that qualifies as a guilty pleasure.
08/16/02
Ultimately, 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
Compelling 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
Well cast, pretty to look at and smart in its observations about men and women together.
08/16/02
Split 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
Some books just aren't meant to be movies, and Possession is surely one of them.
08/16/02
This movie could be in danger of making reading sexy.
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
A pleasant enough romance with intellectual underpinnings, the kind of movie that entertains even as it turns maddeningly predictable.
08/16/02
Unexpectedly lush, unabashedly romantic and wrenchingly tragic, this literary detective drama could be the best date film of the year.
08/16/02
It'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 CriticThe performances across the board are predictably solid.
08/16/02
If you're expecting Linda Blair's head to spin around at some point, you might want to skip it.
08/16/02
If you love reading and/or poetry, then by all means check it out. You'll probably love it.
08/16/02
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