Possessor (film)

Plot

Tasya Vos works as an assassin, but she does not kill her targets directly. Instead, she takes over another person's body to commit the murder. An implant placed in the host's brain allows her consciousness to enter their mind. After the job is done, she returns to her own body by making the host kill themselves. During her first shown hit, she breaks from her usual procedure. She cannot control the host's gun properly, so she shoots at arriving police, which results in the host being shot instead.

Vos experiences neurological problems and feels increasingly disconnected from her own identity. She struggles to keep her work separate from her life with her husband, Michael, and her son, Ira. She practices acting like her normal self in the same way she practices pretending to be her hosts. Violent thoughts intrude into her home life, such as when she puts Ira to bed or has sex with Michael. Her handler, a retired assassin named Girder, disapproves of her wish to stay close to her family. He believes she would be a more effective killer without personal ties. During a debriefing session meant to help her reconnect with her true self, Vos looks through objects tied to personal memories. She stops at a butterfly she pinned and framed as a child, and tells Girder she feels guilty for killing it.

Despite her fragile mental state and exhaustion, Vos agrees to carry out a major hit on wealthy CEO John Parse and his daughter, Ava. She does this by taking over the body of Ava's fiancé, Colin Tate. While living as Tate, her neurological symptoms get worse, but she hides this from Girder during check-ins. The hit only partly succeeds: Ava dies, but Parse survives. Vos tries to finish the job by making Tate shoot himself, but again she cannot force him to pull the trigger. During a dissociative episode, she struggles to keep control of Tate's body. He stabs himself in the skull, which damages the implant and causes severe neurological damage to Vos's own body, leading to internal physical harm. Vos finds she can neither leave Tate's body nor overpower his mind. Tate regains control, but he is deeply disoriented, in shock, and traumatized by the violence he has witnessed. He flees the crime scene and seeks shelter with his friend Reeta, while experiencing fragmented memories from Vos's life.

Production

In May 2018, Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott joined the cast, with Brandon Cronenberg directing from his own screenplay. Producers included Fraser Ash, Niv Fichman, Kevin Krikst, and Andrew Starke under Rhombus Media and Rook Films, with Telefilm Canada also producing. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stacy Martin, and Sean Bean joined in February 2019, and Tuppence Middleton replaced Martin in May 2019. Principal photography ran from April 9 to May 14, 2019, in Ontario, Canada.

Release

Well Go USA Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights in November 2018. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020, with Neon partnering on the American release alongside Well Go USA, which handled home media. It was released in the United States and Canada on October 2, 2020, and in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2020, by Signature Entertainment. On May 31, 2023, a double feature of Possessor and Cronenberg's Infinity Pool was announced for three North American theaters in June, with Cronenberg in attendance, screening both films in their uncut form at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in San Francisco, the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Metrograph in New York City.

Reception

The site's consensus reads, 'Further refining his provocative vision, writer-director Brandon Cronenberg uses Possessor's potentially over-the-top premise as a delivery mechanism for stylishly disturbing thrills. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating 'generally favorable reviews'. David Sims in The Atlantic wrote that Cronenberg 'isn't just looking to provoke with blood and guts—like all good dystopian fiction, Possessor offers disturbing and timely observations about the world we already live in. It was a New York Times Critic's Pick, with Glenn Kenny praising the film's formal sophistication. The opening sequence was singled out for praise, particularly Gabrielle Graham's performance as Holly; David Ehrlich from IndieWire called it 'a coldly compelling prologue', and Wendy Ide from Screen Daily agreed that 'in a memorable cameo role in the film's opening, Gabrielle Graham also makes an impact. Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting gave the film a score of four-and-a-half out of five, writing that 'like dad David Cronenberg, Brandon Cronenberg has a unique way of testing the boundaries of comfort and exploring the human mind and body in squeamish fashion. John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter praised the direction, visuals, performances, and special effects. Rob Hunter of Film School Rejects gave a positive review, noting the film's 'engrossing pace, engaging characters, unrelentingly brutal violence, erect penises, a must-own Halloween mask, a mean-spirited Sean Bean, one hell of an ending, and more. Chris Evangelista of Slashfilm gave the film ten out of ten, writing that it is 'bathed in blood and gore, and unrelentingly aggressive' and 'unlike anything you've ever seen before.'