Possession (2002)

movie review by Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review

Rating: *** (3 out of 5 stars)

Two literary scholars in London (Aaron Eckhart, Gwyneth Paltrow) investigate a suspected affair between two Victorian poets (Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle) - all the while becoming more and more attracted to each other. The film is glossy but unsatisfying. David Henry Hwang's script (from A.S. Byatt's novel) moves smoothly between past and present at first, but over time the past becomes more interesting, the present more disjointed. One problem is Eckhart's slovenly-pretty-boy look: he makes an unconvincing scholar and an unappealing lover and has little chemistry with Paltrow; when he begins professing affection for her it rings false. Northam and Ehle, on the other hand, have real chemistry, and they end up taking over the story by default. Neil LaBute's direction is cursory and only half-interested. JL

A PERSONAL "POSSESSION"

Director LaBute wrestles with best-seller and wins

LARSEN RATING: $7.00 [out of $8.00]

"Possession" isn't the latest Calvin Klein perfume, but director Neil LaButes' film of the same name still has the scent of an intelligent, romantic drama. I never had the courage to read A.S. Byatt's mammoth tome "Possession," but admire LaButes' courage to bring the tale of star-crossed lovers to the screen. Some of Hollywood's brightest filmmakers have tried and failed. The stumbling block has always been the novel's size.

To his credit, LaBute, working from previous adaptation by playwright David Henry Hwang and Laura Jones (director Gillian Armstrong's wordsmith), has created a satisfying blend of modern day romance and Victorian mystery to please anyone looking for a film that features engaging performances, pin-sharp dialogue and consummate direction.

There's much to enjoy here, including a terrific set of performances from Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart as the modern day literary sleuths, and Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle as the Victorian-age poets whose secret romance sets the plot into motion. LaBute uses narration to speed matters along, a verbal shorthand to help incorporate as much of the novel as possible into 102 minutes.

Gwyneth Paltrow, exploring a very subtle yet effective British accent, plays Maud Bailey, an English professor focusing on the life of poet Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). Aaron Eckhart plays American scholar Roland Michell, currently in England on a fellowship. As England celebrates the centennial of noted Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam), Michell believes he has found a lost link between Ash and LaMotte.

No one believes Michell, including Bailey, a direct descendant of LaMotte who insists that she was a lesbian who had a long relationship with her assistant Blanche Glover (Lena Headey). As more clues surface, the modern day couple find themselves running all over the English and French countryside trying to unravel the mystery.

There's not much action in "Possession," but that doesn't stop the film from being exciting. Most of the time the couples sit around and talk, but it's what they say and how they say it that brings us into the story and their lives. "Possession" reminded me a lot of director Karl Reisz's film of John Fowles' bestseller "The French Lieutenant's Woman."

In that film, Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons play dual roles, one set a modern day couple making a film, the second the actual characters depicted in the film. Employing creative editing, Reisz succeeded in turning a complex, non-linear story into a breathtaking whole.

LaBute, a master storyteller (In The Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors), walks the same narrative high wire, and never teeters. In some respects, "Possession" is LaBute's best work, a film that's more about romance than sex. With film editor Claire Simpson, LaBute seamlessly shifts time periods. Both worlds benefit from Lucianna Arrighis' exquisite production design, perfectly framed by director of photography Jean Yves Escoffier.

Paltrow and LaBute are blessed to have discovered each other. LaBute forces Paltrow to take chances, be they so slight, in becoming the smart, enigmatic woman who slowly begins to realize that her work is her life. Eckhart's Michell helps change that, and you instantly see her attraction in him. Since he put on the pounds to play the sleazy office worker in "In The Company of Men," Eckhart has never had an opportunity to show off his natural good looks.

Michell is much more than a pretty-boy role, and Eckhart shades the character with doubts and insecurities. He comes off cocky, but underneath we see a man who has been hurt by someone or something, and keeps his guard up. It's a real pleasure watching Paltrow and Eckhart slowly tear down each other's defenses.

Jeremy Northam is very good as Ash, a celebrated poet who has everything but the intimacy of his devoted wife (Holly Aird). His quest for physical love leads him to LaMotte, whom he meets at a dinner party. Even though LaMotte shares her life with Glover, something inside of her yearns as well. Ehle is absolutely splendid as LaMotte, whose heterosexual sexual awakening is one of the films most powerful and romantic moments.

There are many puzzles to be solved in "Possessions," and LaBute manages to put every piece in place. "Possessions" is unlike anything LaBute has done to date. How gratifying to discover that LaBute can still make an adult film without making it adult. He doesn't feel the need to shock us. Instead, he has created a film that embraces many positive aspects of life. LaBute still challenges us, but we leave the theater feeling good about ourselves and what we have just seen.

THE AISLE SEAT - by Mike McGranaghan

"POSSESSION"

Neil LaBute is a fascinating filmmaker. Since bursting onto the scene with his attention-getting In the Company of Men, LaBute has cranked out one good movie after another: Your Friends and Neighbors, Nurse Betty, and now Possession. What I respond to is that - whatever the subject matter of the plot - LaBute's stories are always an examination of the people. It's not about what happens, but about what's going on emotionally for the characters. Possession is different for the director (it's only rated PG-13 and is substantially less cynical than his previous works) but it fits squarely in his body of work.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart star in the Neil LaBute film Possession. Aaron Eckhart stars as Roland Michell, an American scholar working in London. He is studying a well-known poet named Randolph Henry Ash, who had been poet laureate to Queen Victoria. Ash was noted as much for his fidelity to his wife as he was for his poetry. But while perusing an old book in the London library, Roland discovers several love letters written in Ash's hand. He steals the letters and examines them closely, coming to the conclusion that Ash wrote them to another Victorian poet, Christabel LaMotte. To prove his theory, Roland enlists the help of Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), an academic who not only specializes in LaMotte, but is also a descendant. At first, Maud thinks the possibility of a LaMotte/Ash affair is ridiculous. After the letters provide some clues leading to other letters, she starts to admit that it could have been true.

The movie intercuts the modern-day story with flashbacks revealing the relationship between the poets. We come to understand why Ash (Jeremy Northam), while sincerely loving his wife, sought comfort in the arms of another woman. We also get a glimpse into the life of LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle), who lived a happy existence with her lover Blanche (Lena Headey). She initially holds Ash at arm's length but eventually succumbs to his advances. Their union leads up to a somewhat mysterious end that puzzles Roland and Maud. As they try to put the pieces together, the scholars (both of whom have significant problems making relationships work) find themselves drawn to one another. They are kindred spirits, obsessed with the lives and works of people who lived generations before. This shared passion opens up parts of themselves that had previously been closed off.

Obviously, Possession is not going to be a movie for everybody. Much of the film involves two people pouring through old letters, hoping to learn something. It's not exactly xXx. If the premise intrigues you, though, then this might be the movie for you. I found the investigation fascinating. You don't see this kind of thing portrayed in movies too often. There's something wistful and romantic about the way letter-writing (now a lost art form) can connect us to people who lived long ago. That's one of the things LaBute really targets in the story - the way Roland and Maud can't get their own lives together yet find clarity in the lives of others.

The backstory of Ash and LaMotte is intriguing as well. Their relationship somehow seems simultaneously complicated and pure. They have reasons for their attraction to one another that become more clear the longer it goes on. Things eventually become complicated in ways we don't expect. This leads to the last scene of the movie, an absolutely poetic moment that hints at lost possibilities. I tend to find costume dramas rather dull, but this one is only part of a larger theme and therefore it works. LaBute effortlessly glides back and forth between the period part of the story and the modern day part, connecting them instead of making them seem distant.

Possession is a small, quiet film. It moves at its own pace, allowing the audience to absorb the ideas in much the same way that Roland and Maud absorb the letters. In the end, I believe the title is appropriate. This is a film about people who want to possess love without complications. It doesn't happen for the poets, yet they leave behind words and emotions that reach two strangers years in the future. Those strangers are inspired enough to believe that maybe they can eliminate some of the complications and truly possess love once and for all.

*** [3 stars out of 4]

Possession

B-

Appropriate for ages 15+ (but will most likely make any teenager fall asleep).

The Story: Roland Michell (Eckhart) is an American historian obsessed with the works of the great Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash (Northam). Ash was most famous for his poems he dedicated to his loving wife. Maud Bailey (Paltrow) is a British historian similarly obsessed with the works of a lesser known lesbian poet Christabel LaMotte. According to history, these two poets only met on one occasion, but upon unveiling some recent evidence Michell and Bailey are going to try to prove that these two poets were not only friends, but passionate, secret lovers.

The Good: The story is very interesting if you are loaded with caffeine. Also, the direction is very well achieved and the cinematography is excellent. Finally, I must add that the acting by Eckhart and Paltrow, as well as the rest of the cast, is wonderful.

The Bad: This is not a film for everybody. In fact, this is one of the artsiest films I have ever seen, and that is not a good thing. Director Neil Labute, who is known for his hard-hitting guy films like In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors, has brought us a chick flick that is way too high brow for most chicks (no offense intended). This does not make it a bad film, but it does make it a film that most people will not enjoy, and should not see.

The Summary: This is a chick-flick for highly intelligent, literate women only. All others -- be warned!

Possession

By Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer

*** [3 out of 5 stars]

Treacle has rarely been served with as much reverence as in Possession, an attempt at mainstream romance from the director of Nurse Betty. This is Neil LaBute trying to do Jane Austen, from tone to subject matter to casting. And he's just no good at it.

Possession is based on an A.S. Byatt novel about two scholars who dabble in romance as they're delving into the hidden past of a couple of 19th-century poets. Hunky-stubbly Aaron Eckhart is a glib, opportunistic American who stumbles across letters alluding to a dalliance that may rewrite the book on a celebrated Victorian poet, Randolph Henry Ash. And Gwyneth Paltrow is the prim English professor who is expert on the life of the other half of the long-ago affair, Cristabel LaMotte.

They're sneaking around, looking for clues about a romance that would change the reputation of the lovesick but misogynistic Ash, whose wife was his supposed muse, and LaMotte -- a lesbian faerie poetess who was sort of the Tori Amos of her day.

The trick to the story is that we see the Ash-LaMotte affair unfold in 1859, as we see the modern scholars begin to follow their hearts down the same path. That isn't much of a trick, as we've seen that parallel romantic structure many times before, most particularly in The French Lieutenant's Woman. The settings and even the costumes mimic that film.

Jeremy Northam, who co-starred with Paltrow in Austen's Emma, and Jennifer Ehle, who played Austen's Elizabeth Bennett in the fabulous TV Pride & Prejudice of the early '90s, are Ash and LaMotte.

The script, reaching for a lyricism that befits a story of love between poets, is weepy and purple and tin-eared in the extreme, a Bridges of Middlesex County. When Ehle's LaMotte shreds a poem because she dares not reveal her love for Ash, she promises to "scatter these words from the train and hope they will take root."

The title's a clumsy play on romantic possession and the old saw about "possession" being nine parts of the law. He who possesses the letters and proof of the affair, wins.

The performances are generally charming, if unaffecting. Ehle has lost some of the ethereal qualities of her youth. She's aged into an earthier face and a deeper voice, and looks and acts more and more like her mother, actress Rosemary Harris. And even though Northam has played this sort of role a few too many times for this to be much of a stretch for him, he cuts a fine dash as a Byronic figure from a most conservative age.

But LaBute isn't very good at suggesting the depth of the characters' long-ago transgression. Perhaps he needed to watch French Lieutenant's Woman more carefully. There's no weight to the consequences for their actions, and little feel for just how out-of-character this behavior was for these two, and their times.

And the modern couple -- though both played by screen beauties -- set off few sparks. Paltrow has always suggested a cool Grace Kelly presence, and she seems to ice over a little more with each film. Her spot-on posh accent aside, this isn't a performance but a cinematic embalming. Eckhart, the sexy biker babysitter of Erin Brockovich, lets his cleft chin do all his acting.

Possession is most fun when it pulls away the veil on academic backstabbing and scholarly chicanery. Eckhart's American is forever pilfering rare papers, staying one step ahead of other unscrupulous academics who want to have the last word on this subject.

It's a treasure hunt -- a high-toned Love Letters in which a romance is played out by actors reading their love notes aloud -- and a pretty English travelogue.

But Possession doesn't possess the viewer, or even draw us in. Perhaps the director of the edgy In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty needs to find his way back to that edge. This flirtation with the mainstream very nearly drowns him.

Lawrence Journal-World [Lawrence, Kansas]

** [2 stars out of 4]

Couples struggle with romantic roles in 'Possession'

By Jon Niccum, Entertainment Editor

Friday, August 30, 2002

While some will assume filmmaker Neil LaBute is shying away from the cynical reputation perfected in his acutely disturbing "Your Friends & Neighbors" and "In the Company of Men," his most recent effort still embraces comparable themes.

Special to the Journal-World

Aaron Eckhart and Gwyneth Paltrow play literary experts in the romantic detective story "Possession."

LaBute's customary subject of how men and women seem destined to rip each other apart is fully displayed in "Possession" -- in two different time zones, no less. And his sense of cold detachment feels at home in the Victorian era, where even the most erotic maneuvers are hampered by restraint.

Adapted from the celebrated novel by A.S. Byatt, "Possession" concerns the attempt of sleuthing modern-day scholars to uncover a steamy connection between two iconic poets of the 1800s.

Aaron Eckhart -- who has appeared in all of LaBute's features -- stars as Roland Michell, an American academic working in London to research the life of Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam). Roland uncovers evidence to suggest that the (fictional) poet laureate to Queen Victoria may have had an affair with Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle), who was herself a revered poet, proto-feminist and reputed lesbian.

Roland seeks the expertise of Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), a literary expert on LaMotte and her blood relative thrice removed. Convinced that Ash may not have been so steadfastly faithful to his wife and that LaMotte might have been pulling an "Anne Heche," the modern pair starts playing detective. As they dig up the truth, they also begin to "investigate" each other.

For a filmmaker so steeped in latter-day America, LaBute has little trouble orchestrating a period piece composed solely in England. LaBute and production designer Luciana Arrighi ("Sense and Sensibility") do a fine job implementing the era's detail. From the English countryside to bustling seaside towns, their centuries-old landscape is always credible.

At times, LaBute (who co-wrote the screenplay) uses John Sayles' "Lone Star" trick of having both the past and present blend together through unbroken moves of the camera. For instance, in "Possessed" a shot of the contemporary researchers pans over to reveal a bygone steam engine coursing through the hills. This not only prevents the transitions from being jarring, but it also supplies tangible visuals of how the relationships of both couples often echo each other.

Although the inanimate objects look authentic, those inhabiting the frame are not always so lucky.

The romance between Paltrow and Eckhart never comes across as genuine, probably because their pairing seems so inescapably formulaic. When hasn't a repressed Brit met a candid American and not ended up in bed together by the second act?

These actors deliver sufficient performances (particularly Eckhart, who has a way with the offhand remark), but they each radiate MOVIE STAR. Their conversations just sound like time-passers until she can let her hair down and he can take his shirt off.

Literary researchers all over the world must be amused at how little their own physical attributes measure up to cinematic idealism.

Does that mean the movie should be populated with ugly people? No. But at least the leads could be depicted as dorky or annoying or something that would detract from the Venus and Adonis-like countenances of these "bookworms."

Yet what is most surprising is the lack of passion contained in the pairing of Northam and Ehle. These are two quality character actors who seem born to take part in period roles. (Northam was recently seen as the ivory-tickling matinee idol in "Gosford Park" and Ehle was the Hungarian lover in "Sunshine.") But when partnered they only generate a contrived chemistry. Their falling in love seems based more on a preordained plot device than actual attraction.

The movie's strongest scenes occur in the epilogue, when what turns out to be a stream of predictable revelations veers off in a new direction. The final shot is quite devastating -- it exemplifies a barrage of miscommunication coming full cycle. This provides Northam with his best onscreen moment, as his face registers how the whole arc of the story has gained new resonance.

It's a case of too little too late, however. The emotional passion evoked in the wrap-up isn't spread liberally enough throughout the rest of the picture. If it had been, LaBute would be culpable for crafting a grand romantic drama rather than a mildly charming diversion.

Film Snobs

Review by Jimmy O

Possession

Starring:

* Gweneth (Yeah!)

* A Repressed Neil LaBute (Like He's any other Way)

* Erin Brockovich's Boyfriend

Directed by the Most Notorious KU Dropout since Don Johnson

[Photo caption: "Aaron, this is about the time I would have you deliver a monologue on beating up puppy dogs but the studio wants a PG-13. Man, they're worse than BYU!"]

*** 1/2 [3 1/2 stars out of 5]

Your Friends and Corsets

I am not trying to be all self-effacing and cool by saying that I really have no interest in poetic British literature. I mean, I don't even think that I really appreciate it all that much since that era in general was a rather boorish time of repression and false emotions. I am certain that there were things boiling underneath all of that but why would I do that when I would have a better time reading Nick Hornby or Carl Hiassen? Fortunately for me, Neil Labute has taken the time to not only go into this literature era but into the research of it and made the nastily fun romance Possession. The movie stars Aaron Eckhart and Gweneth Paltrow as two researchers in London chasing the hints and clues that link poet Robert Thompson Ashe (Jeremy Northam) to a secret romance he conducted. Several have said that this star-crossed venture into PG-13 rated Victorian lit is a departure for the guy who wrote plays such as the shape of things and directed films such as Your Friends and Neighbors but I disagree. Putting the evidence of the somewhat light Nurse Betty aside, the film's subject still allows him to examine mean-spirited thoughts of all humans and the way men and women tear at each other. But here, there is the added bonus of watching him portray human behavior through the ages and for a resolution where men and women stop clawing and begin to see each other in a more glowing light.

Rowland (Eckhart) is a gruff American working for a stuffy lit professor at a London university. Some may that Eckert is too course and Joe Blow for this role but it seems that he hits the notes correctly enough for not only the audience to have a surrogate but also with keeping some of the Labute testosterone available. He clearly wants to be doing some Legitimate Work, but his boss has him looking up cooking recipes from 1859. One day, he stumbles across the love letters that Ashe wrote to Christabell LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle), another poet thought to be exclusively lesbian. In attempting to track this lead down, Rowland goes across town to Lincoln University to speak to Maude (Gweneth Paltrow) an expert on the works of LaMotte. And, as the Labute heroine, she is a teeny bit icy. I mean she's not Catherine Keener icy, but it is clear that she will be quite a challenge for Rowland. As they search for clues, they both become enraptured by the secret romance carried on by their subjects. This leads to a romance between the two (what else would you expect) but not before both story lines explore the depravity that true, unbridled passion brings out in people.

The script does a really nice job of cutting the two stories together in order to show how human behavior does not change from person from person or from time to time. This kind of intense study is something that Labute specializes in but the subject matter of literary theory seems to temper him a bit. While he does touch on some of his pet themes of infanticide, lesbianism, and suicide, it's all done in the proper context of the story and is not put there because it is a Neil Labute film. He doesn't go for shock here; which may be the most shocking part of the whole thing. Both Eckhart and Paltrow have really good chemistry, even when her character is supposed to be portrayed as the bad guy (gal). It even kind of works better in those scenes because the two actors seem to really enjoy the cagey situation. Of course, Northam seems like he was born wearing those period clothes and he also has the repression bit down really well. I think it also speaks very highly of Possession that it makes the idea of literary research seem so exciting and so...sexy. It touches on the notions of sexuality and danger without really addressing them up front. Sort of the same way this type of literature does. It's a great plot device and the film carries it off without a hitch.

The problems are few and far between. Perhaps Rowland is almost too gruff and American to be the type of person that would work in the academic circles of London and perhaps Paltrow is almost too detached in some of her earlier scene without Eckhart. But the film still has a really satisfying hook and has a really potent sexuality in the material and between the actors. I think it just goes to show that you can take director out of the grit and the substance, but you can't take the grit and the substance out of the director.

'Possession': Imperfect romance (ah, but those dusty old tomes)

Connie Ogle
Miami Herald
Published: Friday, August 30, 2002

** 1/2 [2 1/2 stars out of 4]

The passion that ignites in the unabashedly romantic Possession strikes without warning and throws two sets of scholarly and sedate lives into upheaval. That the film captures at least some of the heady mix in A.S. Byatt's novel is a joy. What's less thrilling is the price paid -- an inevitable loss of depth.

Possession may be one of the least cinematic novels ever filmed, full of gorgeous poetry and dark academic tensions. But Anthony Minghella adapted The English Patient, another seemingly unfilmable Booker Prize winner, and now Neil LaBute (Nurse Betty, Your Friends and Neighbors) makes painful cuts to Byatt's work. Some changes succeed; others don't quite work. And while the film is not in the same league as The English Patient -- Possession never achieves that aching sense of tragedy over its star-crossed lovers and lacks Minghella's great clarity of vision -- it is entertaining enough to send intelligent viewers (but only the intelligent ones) in search of the book.

The story centers on letters found in a London library by American scholar Roland Michell (a distractingly handsome Aaron Eckhart), who's researching the life of happily married Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam). Roland, a Brit in the book, thinks the letters may have been meant for reclusive poet Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). He enlists the aid of LaMotte scholar Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), and together they unravel the connection between the poets. At the same time, of course, a powerful current is flowing between them.

Roland's change of nationality isn't really a problem; the shift plays up an important American vs. British academia theme that gets lost elsewhere, because shifty Ash collector Mortimer Cropper does not get adequate screen time. Other characters (Roland's solicitor neighbor, an ex-flame of Maud) get too much attention, which is frustrating.

LaBute speeds through almost all the plot developments in less than two hours, for which he deserves credit. But a slower pace might have improved Possession: the film sometimes seems needlessly rushed, as though made for attention-challenged viewers who haven't read the novel instead of for those who love Byatt's elegant language and complex structure.

Possession never focuses enough on Ash and LaMotte, yet the poets are bolder and more interesting than Roland and Maud, whose fear of commitment seems contrived (no one is going to buy Eckhart's ``I'm through with women''). Ash and LaMotte capture the imagination: they fall so deep so fast that they're willing to risk all to be together despite his adored wife and her dangerously unstable lover, Blanche (Lena Headey).

Ehle and Northam must convey an awful lot without words, and they do, marvelously. Their sudden passion is utterly believable. But you want to see more of them. Romance is, after all, the heart of Possession. But while the film probably won't leave you swooning, it is at least an earnest love letter to its transcendent source.

Possession

Reviewed by: Mirko Parlevliet

Rating: 9 of 10

Summary:

Director Neil LaBute ("Nurse Betty") captures the true essence of a romance with a stellar cast and a great mix of comedy and drama.

The Story:

Based on A.S. Byatt's 1990 novel of the same name, the romantic mystery tracks a pair of literary scholars who unearth the amorous secret of two Victorian poets - only to find themselves falling under a passionate spell. Maud Bailey, a brilliant English academic given to doing things by the book, is researching the life and work of poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Michell is an upstart American scholar in London on a fellowship to study the great Randolph Henry Ash, now best-known for a collection of rapturous, late-life poems dedicated to his wife. When Maud and Roland discover a cache of love letters that appear to be from Ash to La Motte, they follow a trail of clues across England to the Continent, echoing the journey of the impassioned couple over a century earlier.

What Worked:

I went into the screening of "Possession" not sure what to expect. From the trailer it looked as if it could be labeled a 'chick-flick', but the film was surprisingly more than that. I can honestly say that I had not seen any of director Neil LaBute's previous films, but he did a superb job here. The film goes back and forth from the past to the present, sequences that were very well done. When you're watching several scenes in the past with Christabel & Ash, the camera will move slightly (or not at all) and suddenly reveal that we're now in the present with Maud & Roland. It was very similar to Gwyneth Paltrow's own "Sliding Doors," in which scenes would overlap into the other story. Also, "Possession" is beautifully filmed, showing you some great scenery from Europe.

The cast is superb. Gwyneth Paltrow is wonderful as always in her role as Maud, who likes to stick to the rules but then opens up a bit. Her fascination with the material, she and Aaron Eckhart are studying and solving, is genuinely portrayed. Eckhart plays the role of the American in the much-different English surroundings well. The chemistry between his character and Paltrow's works perfectly as well. In the past, Jeremy Northam plays the 19th century poet's desire for Christabel's love very convincingly. The same counts for Jennifer Ehl's character of Christabel. You feel their love, struggle and pain.

I loved the comedic elements of this film, which added so much. There's several parts where Eckhart is shown 'stealing' some authentic material which got a big laugh from the audience. I won't spoil it for you, but the scene with Eckhart & Paltrow in a French office is one to remember.

I think the story itself is just very intriguing and continuously left me wanting more answers. When you watch this in the theater, and you should to get that audience feel/reaction, make sure you pay attention to all the little details. You'll like thinking back at what happened and how.

What Didn't Work:

There's not much I didn't like about "Possession". If I had to nitpick about anything it would be that certain parts of the film are sometimes a bit slow - but how else could they build the romance between the couples? It was well worth watching.

Grab your significant other and friends and check this one out, I'm sure you won't regret it.

Planet Sick-Boy

Rating: 4 out of 10

Neil LaBute must have been tuning in to a lot of daytime television over the last couple of years, because I have to assume that anyone who has undergone this kind of career makeover must have been watching dogs get turned into beauty queens on Maury Povich on at least a semi-regular basis. The talented writer-director has made some of the most brutally cynical films and plays in recent memory, but his latest -- Possession -- is a period romance based on a popular gooey novel. It's as much of a 180 as a filmmaker could take, especially when you consider LaBute's first two films (In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors) were f---ed up enough to make his third (black comedy Nurse Betty) seem like the Feel-Good Movie of the Year. I wouldn't have been more surprised if Vin Diesel had announced he'd be working for scale and improvising his lines in the next Mike Leigh film.

If you were to chart the maliciousness of LaBute's films, the graph would look something like what the stock market has been through over the last year. Not so coincidentally, he penned Men and Neighbors, and co-adapted Betty from somebody else's story. Like Betty, LaBute co-adapts Possession (with David Henry Hwang and Laura Jones), but this time the source is A.S. Byatt's Booker Prize-winning novel (she's also responsible for Angels & Insects). The further he gets from penning his own original material, the lighter (and lamer) it gets.

I have not read the novel, but from what I understand, Possession practically begs not to be adapted into a film. The story parallels the romance between a pair of present-day poetry scholars (Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart) and the very 19th-century poets upon which they have based their entire careers (Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle). Possession opens with American-in-England fellowship student and Randolph Henry Ash expert Roland Michell (Eckhart, The Pledge) unearthing a pair of Ash's letters in a dusty old book. They appear to be love letters and, though it's unclear to whom they were written, Roland is intrigued, as Ash was known to have been a loyal, devoted husband.

Instead of turning the potentially groundbreaking letters over to the proper authorities, Roland swipes them and, theorizing they may have been written to a lesser-known poet named Christabel LaMotte, makes a beeline to see the legendarily dowdy Maud Bailey (Paltrow, The Royal Tenenbaums) who is the foremost authority on LaMotte's career. Like every other snooty Brit he has encountered, Maud looks down her nose at Roland and laughs off his suggestion (this is the only part of Possession that comes close to seeming like a real LaBute film). After all, Ash (played by Enigma's Northam in flashback) was a family man, while LaMotte (Sunshine's Ehle) was a virtuous feminist long believed to have been a lesbian.

Despite her disbelief in Roland's theory, Maud agrees to pursue the lead, and the two fall in love every step of the way as they uncover clue after clue about the lovers of yore. Possession keeps flopping back and forth between the present-day storyline and the one that occurred in the exact same locations of the sumptuously photographed (by Good Will Hunting's Jean-Yves Escoffier) English countryside back in 1859. Now I know some of you are thinking, "Paltrow and Eckhart are supposed to be geeky academics?" It's a very tough idea to swallow, unless all London libraries come equipped with the Nautilus equipment necessary to acquire abs like the ones Eckhart shows off. These two characters ought to be swallowing each others retainers, or having their moments of passion interrupted by an untimely asthma attack. And here's a free tip for all filmmakers: Putting Paltrow's hair into a tight bun does not suddenly make her look like a repressed old maid.

LaBute has directed previously unheralded actors to acclaim in his first three films (Eckhart in Men, Jason Patric in Neighbors and Renee Zellweger in Betty), but everyone here is almost ridiculously flat. Though he's certainly no worse than any of his co-stars, Eckhart has been receiving the majority of everyone's scorn. Most are pissed off because his Roland wasn't an American in the book, while others think the only reason he was cast was because of Hollywood nepotism (he has been in all of LaBute's films, but the director swears he didn't change Roland's nationality just so he could employ Eckhart). Making Roland an American did cause parts of Possession to feel like more a fish-out-of-water story than it should have.

As much as I disliked Possession, I was quite relieved nobody fell through a secret portal and hurtled through time only to fall madly in love with Meg Ryan. There are other redeeming qualities about the film, including the aforementioned cinematography, the relatively short running time (Byatt's novel could easily have been dragged out into a three-hour-plus yawner), and the way LaBute crafted the transitions between the two stories (though Saul Rubinek did a much better job in Jerry & Tom).

Poetry, but no motion
By Steve Schneider

*** [3 out of 5 stars]

Neil LaBute was more fun when his characters were torturing each other psychologically and talking about their genitals in public. Having established himself as the thinking man's shock-monger with his "In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors" (as well as his controversial stage plays), director LaBute set his sights on mass appeal with the soft-headed softball pitch "Nurse Betty." Heaps of undeserved praise later, he forges further into the safety zone with "Possession," a more focused but terminally polite excursion through the love lives of the literati.

LaBute, who abdicated writing duties on "Betty," gets a script credit on "Possession," as one of three writers who adapted the film from A.S. Byatt's Booker-prize-winning novel. But having a pen again in his hands equals no return to nasty form. For the first time, LaBute casts his perennial leading man, Aaron Eckhart, not as an irredeemable sleaze but as a lovable rogue -- namely, Roland Michell, an American research assistant helping the English celebrate the centennial of Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam, in flashback). Michell reports to a professor named Blackadder, and for a moment, we hope that BBC-baiting gags will rule the day. It doesn't happen: No subsequent character is introduced as Adjunct Professor Fawlty.

Instead, the story teams Michell with Limey scholar Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), a frosty customer who warms to his Yank charms as they pursue the unreported truth about Ash. Together, they learn that the great man secretly corresponded with Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle), a woman poet who was -- brace yourself -- not his wife. This is not the sort of revelation that will knock the latest bin Laden video off Al-Jazeera, yet Michell and Bailey react with wide-eyed wonder to each new clue, which they divine by following especially meaningful lines of poetry to hidden cubbyholes, like a couple of overeducated Nancy Drews. Wondering why it has taken a century for anyone to do this distracts us from the lowbrow shame we feel at adjudging both plots (the Michell/Bailey romance, of course, parallels Ash/LaMotte) a snore.

Credit the stars for holding our interest. Eckhart is a lively presence as the irrepressible Michell, who knows that he'll never shake the stereotype of the ugly American and so elects to have as good a time with it as he can. Gwynnie, meanwhile, proves once again that she's just plain charming, no matter what movie she's in. You want to watch these two, and so you traipse along with them dutifully -- right up until the scene that shows them opening never-before-seen, potentially priceless documents mere inches away from a roaring fireplace. Maybe a shot of them visiting Kinko's first was cut for time, but stuffy plus silly equals game over. Alas and alack.

Possession (2002)

movie review by Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Rating: (C)

"Since the film let go of the author's poetry and built no suspense for its mystery, all that's left are a few odd romantic moments alone with the Victorians..."

Neil LaBute ("In The Company of Men"/"Nurse Betty"/ "Your Friends & Neighbors") directs this adaptation of the 1990 Booker Prize-winning novel by Antonia S. Byatt. Possession is a romantic mystery about two relationships a century apart. It parallels both romances by going back and forth between the one taking place at present and the one set in the modesty of the Victorian age in the lush Yorkshire countryside. It's a different type of filmmaking experience from the Morman playwright Mr. LaBute's usual darker and more mean spirited sexual encounter type of flicks, as this highbrow Merchant-Ivory type of film seemed tame for someone of his rep as an anti-romantic. It's so correct and proper, except for the scruffy, unshaven, American scholar played by Aaron Eckhart, who upsets the applecart and tries to poke holes in the elitist world of scholars by his blunt verbage and sneaky deeds. But whose screen presence never seems quite right for this flick.

Also, the mystery part of the tale was too easily let go of in favor of the delicate romances. At best, it was an uneven film written by LaBute along with David Henry Hwang and Laura Jones. The director was never quite sure how to frame the romantic impulses that bloom with his two sets of lovers, as the modern romance seemed more like an acting exercise than an authentic passionate moment and paled considerably when compared to the flowery one in the past. Possession suffered from long lapses of non action where the fictionalized poetry of the period, prominent in the book, was eschewed in favor of having the academic researchers act crudely in love with their misdeeds. They are thrown together on the same literary trail across England to trace the lives of the more brazen lovers of the past. The poets were giving all the juicy prose dialogue (which weren't that plentiful, anyway) and seemed to have the right attitude about their affair. Bereft of poetry and instead filled with romantic notions (ideas about why and how love flourishes), Possession failed to capture the 500+ pages of the book's literate and thrilling qualities that made it such a corking literary detective yarn. In the book Eckhart's part was played by a lower-class Brit and the two rival academic grave-robbers were rich and dumb Americans, instead of Brits as in the film. By changing the parts around, the film seemed to lose its balance and sense of humor.

Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart) is a young upstart American scholar on a graduate school fellowship to London. While thumbing through a tome from Queen Victoria's poet laureate Randolph Henry Ash's private collection at the London library, he discovers a love letter addressed to a poetess stuffed between the pages. This is significant because Ash was recognized as having a perfectly chaste marriage and held up as a model for marital fidelity. It was always believed that all his great romantic poems were addressed to his wife Ellen. Roland steals the letter (a definite no-no for legitimate scholars) and then shows it to his wealthy lawyer friend (Hollander) seeking legal advice in case he's caught. He then researches and discovers that the poetess was named Christabel LaMotte and contacts a brilliant feminist scholar whose expertise is in Ms. LaMotte's poetry, Dr. Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow). She has not achieved notoriety in academia and therefore welcomes the chance to make a name for herself but with some reservations. She's less nervy and confident than the shamelessly bold American, and also harbors some anti-American attitudes (a source for some humor). When the research becomes too revealing of her poetess' life she prefers to pull back and not disturb history.

The Victorian poetess is someone the Brit researcher greatly admires and intimately relates to because of her independent streak and on top of that she's a relation. The American actress displays an impeccable upper-middle-class British accent and plays the part of the icy and snobby untouchable Brit who wears her long blonde hair in a bun and is wary of men, but who underneath that exterior is really warm-hearted and a secret romantic. She's robot-like perfect for the part, but can't give her character any zing. The ambitious career-minded Roland is also wary of relationships for some unknown reason and doesn't know how to tell her that he's attracted to her. The moderns are too afraid of romance to either have one or not have one, but ironically their field of study is of the Romantic poet. That was the film's cleverest ploy, one that it milked for the entire film.

Roland works for Professor Blackadder, who is one of the world's two leading authorities on Ash. The other is a greedy collector of all Ash's works, a fellow Brit named Cropper (Trevor Eve). He's the one-dimensional villainous figure who uses his money to make him the most influential scholar in the field, and he looks down upon the more noble and academic Blackadder because he doesn't have the bread to purchase anything original by the Victorian poet. He also managed to bribe one of Blackadder's leading faculty scholars assigned to his department, Fergus Wolfe (Stephens), and he conspires to relay to him anything his boss is researching. Fergus was the former unsupportive boyfriend of Maude's, which is why she's so down on men.

Jeremy Northam makes for a handsome but uninspiring Ash while Jennifer Ehle is an expressive but limited Christabel, who lives with the sensuous and demanding dark beauty Blanche Glover (Lena Headey) in a relationship that was considered at the time as of one of friendship. Maude believes the nature of their relationship went beyond friendship and was a lesbian one. Through flashbacks the relationship between the renown poet and the more quiet poetess is shown to have begun at a party thrown by a wealthy sponsor of the arts, Crabb--Robinson, and has flourished in secret as the poets couldn't resist each other despite the Victorian morality code for the upper-classes. The one who is most disturbed by this affair is the passionate Blanche. These Victorian romantics have the best lines in the pic. On their first verbal sparring Ash says "you cut me, madam," and Christabel replies, "I'm sorry, I only meant to scratch."

What happens throughout is wordy and not poetical or suspenseful, as LaBute bats the love theories he got from the novelist around through the dialogue of both the dead and living lovers. You would think his ear would be better tuned into the moderns, but the insecure academic pair provide hardly any sparks in their cautionary and testy romance. They couldn't connect due to a lack of chemistry. In fact, Eckhart is a major distraction. He's miscast and never convinces he's a scholar, as he acts more like a shamus in a Mickey Spillane pot-boiler.

Since the film let go of the author's poetry and built no suspense for its mystery, all that's left are a few odd romantic moments alone with the Victorians--the Robert Browning-like Randolph Henry Ash and the Christina Rossetti-like Christabel LaMotte. That was hardly enough to overcome what this unemotional, muted and meandering picturesque film failed to do. It might have thought of itself as an intelligent film, but that hardly matters since it never got on track and was lacking in spirit and purpose. The book is where all the fun, intelligence and poetry is. It might be true that the book's literary subject-matter is very difficult for the cinema to duplicate, but the film was not helped by choosing the gifted LaBute as its director. The surprise is in how bland he made this film, especially so from a director who prides himself on being a meanie. I would expect he works better penning his own films, as he seems to lose his edge otherwise--an example of that is how his "Nurse Betty" was softer than his own authored works.

REVIEWED ON 9/6/2002 GRADE: C

http://www.sover.net/~ozus

Sun Newspapers of Cleveland

Aug. 29, 2002

Get caught up in 'Possession'

$ $ $ 1/2 [3.5 out of 5]

"Possession" will enchant many and bore others. The film is light as a feather with as little substance yet similarly engaging. If cute romantic tales of impossible love are your cup of tea, you'll be wise to sip this sweet mix.

Who says romance is dead? American scholar Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart) discovers an old letter stuffed inside a book at the British Museum. The correspondence appears to be a love letter written by 19th-century poet Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam), not to his wife but to a famed feminist and lesbian, Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle).

The years have portrayed Ash as a man noted for his marital fidelity; if this letter is authentic, its discovery will prove to be a bombshell for historians. Roland takes his discovery to the reserved Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), a noted expert on the historical figures who are involved in this possibly tempestuous affair.

It happens that both Roland and Maud are unencumbered. Though neither appears to be searching for a relationship, the sparks begin to slip out during their research.

Will they finally fall into each other's arms? Co-screenwriter/director Neil LaBute nicely teases as to which direction "Possession" will turn. He also cleverly navigates his movie through both periods, playing out the couples' tales side by side. As a door shuts in the Victorian period, it is reopened a moment later among the cast of today. It adds a magical air to LaBute's inventive blend.

Not to nit-pick but "Possession" does falter in the area of credibility. Roland and Maud always seem to discover more to the mysterious tale of Ash and LaMotte in chronological fashion. A little too convenient, perhaps, but not enough to undo a winning formula that works nicely.

The performances are strong, though the subject matter demands acting that borders on hammy at times. Regardless, be prepared for a wonderful capper to "Possession," one that will deliver a delightful and haunting memory for the romantic in all of us.

- Gerry Shamray

'Possession' about passion and poetry, of which there's little

By GEMMA TARLACH
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: Aug. 29, 2002

** 1/2 [2 1/2 stars out of 4]

"Possession," an adaptation of the award-winning, complex novel of the same name, gives audiences an intriguing glimpse into the libraries and museum archives where history is written, and re-written.

Jennifer Ehle and Jerermy Northam are the Victorian half, playing late-discovered lovers.

Upstart graduate student Roland Michell - a working-class Brit in the book but played here as a brash American by Aaron Eckhart ("Erin Brockovich") - happens on a lost letter from Randolph Henry Ash, Queen Victoria's fictional poet laureate. The letter hints at an affair which, if proven true, would destroy Ash's celebrated stature as a champion of monogamy.

To borrow a line from "XXX's" Xander Cage, scholars live for this stuff.

Michell enlists the reluctant help of prickly professor Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow). As the pair uncover the truth behind the letter, and their feelings for each other, we see the original 19th-century romance in flashbacks. Ash (Jeremy Northam) did indeed have a passionate but doomed affair with poet Christabel LaMotte - portrayed with film-stealing intensity by Jennifer Ehle. Michell and Bailey discover evidence not only of the couple's illicit love but also its terrible consequences.

"Possession" is beautiful to watch, particularly the sweeping landscapes and plush interiors of its Victorian-era scenes. But for a movie about the power of poetry and passion, there is precious little of either.

Director Neil LaBute, best known for the dark comedy "Nurse Betty," has provided an unsparing look at sexual mores before as writer and director of "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends & Neighbors." So it's surprising that the relationships in "Possession" feel underdeveloped.

Michell and Bailey's modern romance in particular falls short, with both characters reduced to stereotypes: Michell is the loose-cannon American, and Bailey a man-phobic gender-studies ice queen who needs Michell to help her, literally, let her hair down.

Too often, both modern scholars tell each other - and the audience - what they're feeling in over-analytic Oprahspeak rather than express their emotions.

Despite having less screen time, both Northam and Ehle do more through looks and gestures than Eckhart or Paltrow, who turns in a surprisingly leaden performance.

A.S. Byatt's 1990 novel "Possession: A Romance" took home the prestigious Booker Prize - and weighed in at more than 600 pages. At a mere 102 minutes, the movie adaptation feels too condensed.

"Possession's" biggest flaw is also its greatest irony: that a movie about the deepest of passion should tell its tale so superficially.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Aug. 30, 2002.

Possession (2002)

Rating: (3/4)

By Phil Villarreal

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Director Neil LaBute just might be a romantic after all.

"Possession," LaBute's latest, is filled with courtship from afar, sweep-her-off-her-feet writing and blushing looks of mutual admiration. It's nothing like the cynical sex comedies with which LaBute has built his career.

A winning, elegant, romantic comedy-drama, "Possession" marks a stark change of pace for LaBute, a superb filmmaker whose last movie was the decidedly unromantic "Nurse Betty" and who made his name with the brash, vulgar dramas "In the Company of Men" (1997) and "Your Friends and Neighbors" (1998).

Those films were all noted for their harsh takes on love. In "In the Company of Men" -- in which a man crafts a plan to get back at the female gender by tricking a woman to fall in love with him, then breaking her heart -- flirtation is a sly weapon instead of something that comes from the heart.

But "Possession" beats with a pure heart. There is no nudity and only a tiny bit of suggested sex, but this is among the most erotic films of the year. When it comes to atmosphere, words are much more powerful than images.

Adapted from the A.S. Byatt novel "Possession: A Romance," the film alternately tells two love stories.

In the present day, two literary historians are researching the possible affair between two poets in 1859.

The historians unearth the evidence of romance past, in the form of love letters filled with longing and passion, and we see the long-hidden courtship in flashbacks. In the course of the discovery of old love, the researchers begin to fall for each other.

The historians are Maud (Gwyneth Paltrow), a prim Briton who represses her feelings, and Roland (Aaron Eckhart), an American burnout who has sworn off love.

Roland and Maud team up to research the affair between poets Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam), who was thought to have adored only one woman, his wife, and Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle), who was believed to be a lesbian.

At one point, Maud and Roland stumble on a cache of love letters the poets shared, and they read them to each other. As Maud and Roland read the flowery verse, it becomes obvious that they're not simply reciting, but meaning what they say to each other. They're just too fragile to admit it.

This all sounds really sappy, but LaBute's careful handling makes the material seem genuine rather than pandering.

The performances are all true. Paltrow, as usual, nails the British accent.

Eckhart, who was LaBute's classmate at Brigham Young University and has starred in all of his films, elegantly softens his hardened character to the prospect of new love.

This is the first film LaBute has made that could adequately serve as a date movie. In fact, that's about the only way to see this movie. See it alone, and it may make you wish there were someone sitting beside you.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Possession: Possession's passion is mostly intellectual

By Jack Zink
Entertainment Writer

Posted August 30 2002

*** [3 out of 4 stars]

Possession props a literary mystery atop a pair of love stories for a curious romantic triangle chock full of everything except the passions it depicts.

The film comes from A.S. Byatt's award-winning 1990 novel by way of a decade of rewrites and directorial reassignments. Both chores eventually fell into the lap of Neil Labute, whose anything-but-romantic reputation precedes the movie version's potential for misogyny.

The early line on Possession is that, after years of redlined screenplays by David Henry Hwang, Labute monkeyed with Byatt's narrative, and especially her leading man, creating a visual mutation of the novel's imagery. I hate to be the one to break the news to either Byatt's or Labute's disciples, but every adaptation from one art form to another is mutation, and Possession is a slick example of the process.

It's a deliberately cool-white romance that never quite gets in front of the mystery, the supposed subplot but really its raison d'etre. Still, Possession is cinematic chick lit; reactions are likely to fall along gender lines, with men less likely to appreciate Labute's unexpected exposure of his feminine side.

For quick comparisons, Possession affects the time warp of The French Lieutenant's Woman, depicting the evolution of two affairs more than a century apart. Year-2000 postmoderns Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart retrace the illicit 1859 Victorian footsteps of Jennifer Ehle and Jeremy Northam, at one point sharing the same bedroom (with decidedly less-than-sizzling results).

Eckhart portrays Roland Michell, an ugly-Americanized version of novelist Byatt's tweedy British academic. Michell is on a fellowship in London to study 19th century literary giant Randolph Henry Ash (Northam), the poet laureate to Queen Victoria. An Ash centenary homage is afoot, and collectibles are going like hotcakes at auction. When the Yank discovers handwritten papers suggesting the model husband had a secret, he senses right off that he's on to something big.

The effort to track down his suspicions leads him to Maud Bailey (Paltrow), a man-eating scholar and descendant of a poet who was an Ash contemporary. Although their personalities are oil and water, scholar and the Yank set off to prove, or disprove, his theories. Meanwhile, however, Michell has tipped off an oily colleague who's in cahoots with a sleazy American memorabilia collector who will stop at nothing for an Ash discovery.

Possession, the movie, is more about intellectual passion than eroticism. The latter is filtered through Labute's male-dominant view of relationships as sexual warfare, anyway.

Northam plays a manipulative Ash, who convinces Ehle to abandon her lesbian lover (yes, it gets that complicated). They risk everything to physically consummate what began as an intellectual attraction. The camera switches from present to past and back in a series of blinks -- sometimes within the same camera shot -- as Paltrow and Eckhart fight a similar physical attraction forming between them.

Yet even in its most intimate moments, Possession is detached from both these relationships. They're not the story's center. What really possesses Paltrow, Eckhart, the supporting cast full of their adversaries, and even Northam and Ehle's performances, is The Secret itself.

The journey to the secret's eventual discovery is a separate adventure, and thrill enough. If Victorian pulp romance is really what you're after, rent a copy of the 1980 film Somewhere in Time instead.

Screen It! Artistic Review

Possession

QUICK TAKE:
Drama: Two contemporary literary scholars travel in the footsteps of two Victorian poets and end up falling under their own romantic spell while trying to discover what happened to their 19th century counterparts and their secret romance.

PLOT:
Roland Michell (AARON ECKHART) is an American literary scholar working in London as a research assistant for Professor James Blackadder (TOM HICKEY). With it being the centennial celebration of Randolph Henry Ash (JEREMY NORTHAM), the poet laureate for Queen Victoria, Roland is researching the love letters from the reportedly faithful man to his wife Ellen (HOLLY AIRD).

He gets the idea, however, that Ash's letters weren't written to his wife, but instead to fellow Victorian poet Christabel LaMotte (JENNIFER EHLE). Needing more information, Roland goes to visit stuffy British academic Maud Bailey (GWYNETH PALTROW) who's been doing her own research on LaMotte who was a distant relative of hers.

Maud believes that Roland's theory is rubbish, particularly since she knows of Christabel's lesbian lover, Blanche Glover (LENA HEADEY). Nevertheless, she eventually but reluctantly decides to assist him in his literary detective work, and the two end up finding more letters that begin to confirm Roland's theory.

As they continue their work and try to circumvent Maud's former boyfriend, Fergus Wolff (TOBY STEPHENS), from beating them to the punch of getting to the bottom of this potential historical scandal, they begin to develop feelings for each other, much like Ash and LaMotte who we see in various flashbacks that parallel the contemporary story.

OUR TAKE: 7 out of 10

Having grown up in the capital of the Confederacy, attended college where Colonial America flourished and currently residing in the suburbs of our nation's capital where I formerly worked in the Capitol building, I've been surrounded by history all of my life. It's amazing to think that where one might visit or walk, all sorts of people - historically famous and anonymous - once tread and lived their lives centuries ago.

Of course, without audio, film or TV footage and lacking a time machine, the only way to learn about those long dead people is through various letters and writings they or others penned. Even so, many such records are incomplete, missing or long since destroyed, thus leaving historians with the task of filling in the blanks in their "detective" work.

Although probably less likely due to prodigious record keeping, the same could also hold true in the future. For instance, if future historians unearthed the work of filmmaker Neal LaBute but found nothing after 2001, they'd probably come to the conclusion that the writer/director was a cynical sort who repeatedly showed the meanness and callowness of people in films such as 'In the Company of Men," "Your Friends & Neighbors" and "Nurse Betty."

Little would they know, however, that he would have a softer side and would go on to direct the superb romantic drama, "Possession," a film about 21st century literary scholars who investigate the lives of two 19th century Victorian poets.

Perhaps speaking from his more compassionate, feminine side, the film emulates the theme and aura of many a romantic novel as well as the story structure of parallel time line films such as "The French Lieutenant's Woman."

Based on A.S. Byatt' 1990 novel of the same name, LaBute and fellow screenwriters David Henry Hwang ("Golden Gate," "M. Butterfly) and Laura Jones ("Angela's Ashes," "Oscar and Lucinda") tell the tale of a British academic and an American literary scholar who develop romantic feelings for each other while investigating and then following the actual paths and romance of their 19th century counterparts.

Like the 1981 Meryl Streep film, this one alternates between the two would-be romantic couples as the contemporary one's literary detective work reveals more facts about the past one. Based on all of that, it's probably not difficult to discern that this is a "chick flick," albeit a mature and well-made one that's fortunately - and wisely - accessible enough to men that it shouldn't send them fleeing from the theaters in search of a football game.

That said, those looking for a fast-moving or intricate plot are likely to be a bit disappointed. In fact, one complaint that could be made about the film is that its pacing is methodical at best when not downright slow. Then there's the fact that it takes a while for the period plot to kick in with enough material to make it of note, let alone come across as compelling.

Filming a story about literary scholars doing historical research and digging up and then reading written materials obviously has its inherent limitations and drawbacks. Yet, while nothing of great consequence beyond that of the heart transpires in either plot, the way in which LaBute and company have fashioned the script, written some terrific dialogue and occasionally have the characters crossing paths through locales that bridge the two times makes the overall effort more than worthwhile.

The performances, however, are what really sell the effort and make it work so well. While Holly Aird ("Dreaming of Joseph Lees," "The Theory of Flight"), Lena Headey ("Gossip," "Mrs. Dalloway") and Toby Stephens ("Space Cowboys," "Cousin Bette") show up in supporting roles - the latter as the story's antagonist in terms of the scholars reaching their goal - the four leads are obviously the focal points of the story and all are terrific.

Playing the would-be contemporary lovers and unlikely accomplices are Gwyneth Paltrow ("Shallow Hal," "The Royal Tenenbaums") and Aaron Eckhart ("The Pledge," "Erin Brockovich"). The latter, a standard LaBute player, is so natural and good in the role that he continues to support my belief that he's one of the best under appreciated actors working today. Paltrow is also good playing the standard stuffy Brit who eventually melts a bit under Eckhart's American character influence.

Jeremy Northam ("Gosford Park," "Enigma") and Jennifer Ehle ("Sunshine," "Paradise Road") embody the period lovers and end up getting the meatier and more interesting character bits as the story wears on and develops more for them. Northam plays the standard man of wealth whose obsession overrides his more usual staid and proper demeanor. It's Ehle, however, who really shines in her role as the poet who leaves her lesbian lover for Ash but then isn't sure how to proceed with their affair.

Once again examining human relationships as he's always done - this time of past and present varieties - 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. "Possession" rates as a solid 7 out of 10.

Blunt Reviews

with Emily Blunt

Possession is one of the most romantic films I've ever seen... it's certainly up there with The English Patient though not quite a Casablanca or an End of the Affair.

Based on A.S. Byatt's sprawling novel, Possession is a touching sleuth piece about lost letters, forbidden love, and social acceptabilities. Now for the screen adapter/screenwriters David Henry Hwang, Laura Jones and LaBute have woven a yarn rich in enchantment yet strangely realistic considering the subject matter.

Director LaBute has taken this nearly impeccable script and put in place a perfect crew, sprinkled it with a precise cast, which together, manage to deliciously paint the screen as Possession seamlessly swings to and fro from present to past telling two tales at once; one from a century ago and one fixed in today's relationship dramas.

And yes I said Neil LaBute. That Neil Labute - Your Friends and Neighbors and In The Company of Men - LaBute. Sure, LaBute's infamous for making men look like testosterone infused rabid frothing sex pigs in his films but with Possession he actually turns himself around a tad and creates two incredible male characters not only likable but charming and addictive.

First is Roland Mitchell an American in London who is interning at a swanky British museum filled with cavernous crevices and the permeating sounds of "shhhh. " Roland is played by LaBute regular, studly Aaron Eckhart. He's a completely warm and open character at once familiar and unapologetic for his bursting personality and enthusiasm for life; decidedly unBritish in demeanor.

Then there's Randolph Henry Ash, a long deceased Victorian era lover's poet who happens to be the museum's subject matter this season on his centennial celebration. Ash is played by the object of my affection, that leading man that looks as if he's from yesteryear, uber handsome talent Jeremy Northam. With Roland and Randolph, Mr. "Show The Worst In Men" LaBute has created two deep thoughtful men that are honest with women concerned about expressing themselves and open (mostly) with their adoration. It's a fairy tale of sorts you see.

The women are just as well written. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Ehle who play the gals to the beaus of different eras are into. They are two strong fragile believable women. Don't worry LaBute fans he's still as subtly cynical as ever and has his screenplay riddled with razor sharp dialog, he's just stepped into a less pimple showing world and managed to create a extraordinary romantic piece with his signature flares of truths.

Story goes Roland Mitchell is in London for a brief fellowship (he's an intern) at the great British Museum. It's the centennial of British love poet Randolph Henry Ash and he's been placed in charged of menial tasks like what did Ash's beloved wife serve for guests in 1859. While reading up in one the oodles of books Ash left behind, Roland discovers two handwritten notes from Ash to a woman...

Ash corresponding with a woman? He was supposed to be this pillar of society and an adoring faithful husband. Figures. If the letter means what they seem to mean, history books will have to tell a much raunchier tale. This is a big discovery. Like finding Beethoven held a Harem or something - fun frivolous historical gossip that would make an ancient Enquirer giddy with each word.

Roland must figure out who this woman was and if was truly an 'affair' between the two as the letters' descriptive tones and seductive wording suggests.

He follows his hunches to a feminist poet of Ash's era, Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). Well to Christabel's official historian, Maude Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow). Maude's a bit of a stuffed shirt with a side of starch. She dismisses Roland's ludicrous letters and insinuations for several reasons. But when they learn that Ash and LaMotte did indeed meet and chat at a swanky dinner function of the elite in late 1859 she too is intrigued enough to assist the dreamy eyed American. She's stuffy but not stupid and realizes how this would affect history if Christabel and his Randolph were indeed going rabid Rhesus monkey in the days of old.

Passion possesses the two as they follow in the doomed couple's trail of intrigue, slowly discovering ancient truths that had been long forgotten....or buried.

Yes, the story sounds like a seventy-nine cent romance novel that you read while standing at the checkout. But it is not. Possession manages to remain firmly realistic even while dipping into extreme romantic settings riddled with feather pens, gothic backdrops, evanescent waterfalls and ruffled petticoats. Why does it work so well? Simple. LaBute knows people. He can create a whole being on paper; not always the nicest of folks as we LaBute fans know; but yet so complete with minute idiosyncrasies and great dialogs rich with truth. I can't recall ever being disappointed by his work and here is no exception. Just a beautiful captivating film.

Aaron Eckhart is morphing into pure grade A mansteak gals. He's always been a tad cute but here he's simply delectable. Partly because he's not playing his usual LaBute as***** and partly because he is just such an immense talent. He's an American treasure really. In Possession Aar's Roland (unlike his past LaBute characters) is actually a normal respectable guy with no big hang ups (well none that aren't workable), no hatred for the softer sex, he's genuinely sweet and he's got an amazing personality mixed in to the fantasy. Wrap him up I'll take him! Eckhart also shows his comic timing is as honed as his dramatic instrument. A brilliant guy.

Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect as the quiet fierce bookworm with and undercurrent of passion. I enjoy her choices. In The Royal Tennenbaums she truly proved her range. She can handle anything. Hell, I even liked Bounce.

Jeremy Northam is by far one of the most exciting actors in films today. He disappears into a role so completely one has to do a double take to be sure it's him. He's in everything... Gosford Park (singing no less...be still my pounding heart) Enigma, Winslow Boy etc., etc. Notice a trend? Yeah, he's usually all studmuffined up in 'period' clothing. He's done a few thoroughly modern Milton roles but he apparently understands he looks as if he's accidentally stepped into a portal of time travel and made it to this era and relishes in the roles of his "look." And to say Jeremy's looks are breath taking is an understatement. He's as sweet on the retina as a double stack of home made flapjacks drizzled with warm sticky maple syrup oozing from his manly pores...several helpings would be in order - if you know what I mean...

Rounding out the impeccable cast is Jennifer Ehle. Another wonderful British import. Jen's a mainstay in London theater flexing her celluloid muscles. She's a radiant actor to say the least. I remember her from Sunshine with Studasnarus Rex Ralph Fiennes. She sparkled there too. Though not too frequent on the screen if you look for her name in the cast you shouldn't be disappointed, provided you enjoy drama.

Possession is fabulous. It is a rare truly romantic film that doubles, oddly enough, as a twisting mystery. The cast, direction, set design, cinematography, seamless editing, script, and soundtrack will treat you to a very special trip to the theater. Find this and enjoy!

Snack recommendation: Cucumber sandwiches and tea.

Haro Online

The first thing one notices about Possession is that one element sticks out like a sore thumb, and his name is Aaron Eckhart. It's not that his performance is not good; it's just that his inclusion change the entire dynamic of the movie. It is still enjoyable, but in a different manner. Instead of the literate, poetry-infused romantic love story to a more conventional, almost predictable one. Much of the brains of the story is now gone, but it is still fun to watch these scholars (probably some of the sexiest scholars in recent memory) excited about their work and the possibilities of scholastic discovery. Director Neil LaBute (Nurse Betty, Your Friends & Neighbors), playwright David Henry Hwang (Golden Gate, M. Butterfly) and Laura Jones (Angela's Ashes, Oscar and Lucinda) adapted the Booker Prize winning novel by A.S. Byatt. It's an odd troika of adapters that help retain some of the sense of the novel while changing the Roland Mitchell character from English to American.

LaBute seems an odd choice given the sentimentality and lushness of emotion present, but his penchant for the opposite feelings actually comes in handy sometimes here. An air of detachment exists in many of the characters, as if they are afraid to express themselves fully, whether because they are bound by socially accepted norms or by their own inhibitions. A slow release of emotional baggage happens over the course of Possession, as LaBute delves further into the story. Possession centers around Mitchell (Eckhart, The Pledge, Nurse Betty), a research assistant specializing in the poet Randolph Henry Ash, ex poet laureate. Mitchell discovers some potentially inflammatory love letters written by Ash to an unnamed woman. Ash was renowned for his unfailing fidelity to his wife. Despite the near lack of any empirical evidence, Mitchell believes the woman is Christabel LaMotte, another poet. He seeks out Dr. Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Shallow Hal), who specializes in LaMotte and is also a distant relative. Bailey believes that Mitchell's theory is rubbish (one of the primary reasons being that LaMotte was a lesbian), yet the more the two research, the more evidence they find that supports it.

Possession cuts back and forth between Mitchell and Bailey in the present and Ash (Jeremy Northam, Gosford Park, Enigma) and LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle, Sunshine, This Year's Love) in the past. The two move concurrently, so as Mitchell and Bailey discover more about their relationship, LaBute shows more of what happened. Inevitably, with Mitchell and Bailey spending so much time together and reading love poetry to each other, they begin to fall for each other. In a way, their relationship parallels that of their research subjects by starting coolly, then heating up intensely. It is refreshing to see characters like Mitchell and Bailey who are using their minds to delve into a mystery. What is disappointing is the conventional nature of their romance. Mitchell is the hesitant man, and Bailey is the ice queen. Both are not looking for relationships, but both quickly fall for each other. Worse, Bailey is the thinking academic, and Mitchell is the impulsive, rude American who acts on hunches. These are old stereotypes that bring down the artistic level of the film, exchanging it for something more superficial.

The scenes that take place in the past show a new side of LaBute, that of period director. The England of yesteryear is a lush place, beautiful yet cold. Northam and Ehle are good in their roles, with characters that use words to verbally spar and express their love to each other. They also both have the snooty quality necessary for any period performance. LaBute spends more time in the present with Bailey and Mitchell than in the past with the two poets, which also contributes to the general feel of the movie. Even this relationship turns conventional as Possession enters its third act. Overall, it seems that LaBute tried to make a smart, literate film adaptation of a popular novel. He changed some facts, which irrevocably altered the tone of the movie, but not necessarily in a bad way. Possession is still a good movie, just not the one LaBute hoped to make. It's a little dumber and more stereotypical, but probably a little more fun.

Haro Rates It: Pretty Good.

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