Possession 2002

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Possession may be LaBute's attempt to do something new, but it's our opportunity to enjoy something tried and true. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: While the film probably won't leave you swooning, it is at least an earnest love letter to its transcendent source. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: A lovely and beautifully photographed romance. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: LaBute's trademark bite is absent here -- his movie feels trivial next to the book that inspired it. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Catch your breath, kindred spirits: Possession is the most romantic movie to come our way since The English Patient. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A gorgeous, somnolent show that is splendidly mummified and thoroughly unsurprising. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Possession is in the end an honorable, interesting failure. It falls far short of poetry, but it's not bad prose. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: 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. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Certainly worth seeing -- it's the class act to close the summer -- but the film misses some crucial charge, an innate energy that was in the book that didn't translate to the movie. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: LaBute can't avoid a fatal mistake in the modern era: He's changed the male academic from a lower-class Brit to an American, a choice that upsets the novel's exquisite balance and shreds the fabric of the film. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: 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. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: A romantic melodrama teeming with lust, love, guilt, and raw passion, all wrapped in the splendid visuals provided by cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie is intelligent yet lifeless; it's all wisps and abstractions. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Some books just aren't meant to be movies, and Possession is surely one of them. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: On its own cinematic terms, it successfully showcases the passions of both the director and novelist Byatt. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Watching Possession is a movie experience not much deeper than you'd get on your couch watching Masterpiece Theater or Mystery! -- pleasant enough, but oh so soft. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: For a movie that purports to be about the passions of love and language, Possession is remarkably prim. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: It is risky, intelligent, romantic and rapturous from start to finish. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: 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. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: 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. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: 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. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's potentially exciting material, but what we see onscreen is somewhat less than that. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It may be faint praise, but praise nonetheless, to say that LaBute (and co-writers Laura Jones and David Henry Hwang) have done the best they can with A.S. Byatt's Booker-winning 1990 novel. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Read more

Mike D'Angelo, Time Out: Anybody who's ever been turned on by someone's use of an unfamiliar word will understand. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A passably engaging time-jumping romantic melodrama that at least grapples seriously with one of the novel's most potent themes. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Suffers from insufficient nastiness. Everyone, save the designated villains and professionally obnoxious Eckhart, is altogether too dear. Read more