Possessor
There’s a lot of “eXistenZ” in “Possessor,” which makes sense given that Brandon Cronenberg is working with a lot of the same visual and intellectual ideas his father David does in his films. Part of the connection comes from Jennifer Jason Leigh starring in it, as she did “eXistenZ,” but the film also deals with the notion of reality, and how far down the rabbit hole virtual reality and getting into someone else’s skin, you can go before you start to lose yourself. Even before we get to know her in this film, we can tell that Tasya Vos is already on that path, and she will go even further down as the film progresses.
We begin “Possessor” with an assassination. The assassin is a black server, and her target is one of the big hitters at the party she is working. It’s very sudden, and immediately, the server turns a gun on herself. Something is stopping her, however, and the police are on the scene quickly, and shoot her. Next thing we see, Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough) is being pulled out of her device, which has allowed her to inhabit the body of another person for the sake of the assassination she has just accomplished. Her handler is Girder (Leigh), and we next see them doing a post-job wellness check to make sure that Vos is in sound mental state. Even going through those questions, however, we get the impression that she is holding things back. We then see her in her regular life, which includes seeing her son, Michael, at her ex-husband’s house. It isn’t long before she’s being briefed on another assignment, however, this time involving the father (Sean Bean), whose daughter (Tuppence Middleton) is the girlfriend of the man she’s inhabiting, Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott). There’s a clock for Vos to complete the task, but the link between her and Colin’s body is tenuous; could it be because Colin’s work, which seems to involve deep-faking blackmail sex videos, is equally sketchy? Colin seems to have a powerful influence on his body, even with Vos connected to it.
Being able to merge psychological horror with body horror is a talent few outside of the elder Cronenberg have been able to accomplish very well, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to Brandon. This is a deeply unsettling film from jumpstreet, but it’s not without empathy for its characters- Riseborough and Abbott are terrific in showing us the individual, and collective, struggles these characters are going through in this scenario, while also showing the amorality that is necessary for them to accomplish their jobs. The film has a clear disdain for the way corporations do business, and the emotional toll it can take on people involved in that world- Cronenberg is just taking it to an extreme horror area, but that’s what makes “Possessor” so gripping to watch. If you’ve ever spent any time working for large corporations, this may ring true for you in unexpected ways.
At 103 minutes, “Possessor” is constantly moving forward to its shocking conclusion, but what’s great about it is how it builds in moments for the characters to be seen as humans, even when it involves someone in another person’s body. The conclusion only adds to the shock of what Cronenberg is up to in this film, and a sign that, in the end, corporations will always get what they want out of you. It’s not a pretty sight what that means.
