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Possessed Movie Review

Possessed is a 1947 psychological drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Joan Crawford and Van Heflin. It is a flawed, but effective psychological movie.

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““I love you” is such an inadequate way of saying I love you.

It doesn’t quite describe how much it hurts sometimes“

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Louise is taken to the nursing home of Dr. Willard who demands on listening to the reasons leading to her breakdown. She narrates her life story and the doctor promises her husband to cure her. This movie belongs to that huge wave of films released during the forties that dealt with psychology, in particular evoking Freudian psychology. Thus, the science as it was depicted here is somewhat dated now, but the movie’s atmosphere is undeniably strong.

Although not a noir picture, it does have that noirish atmosphere that made the movie so successful and thrilling. The highlight here was the score by Franz Waxman. It was both eerie and mysterious. The elegant cinematography coupled with strong editing and pretty solid directing made for a technically accomplished feature that also had some superb acting.

Joan Crawford was deservedly nominated for an Oscar for her superb turn in the role of the insane Louise. While the character was somewhat vilified here, her mental deterioration was ultimately well explored and the film’s take on unrequited love and the obsession that stems from broken heart and rejection was quite interesting. Crawford was perfectly cast in the role and she was commendable throughout.

Van Heflin was also excellent and so was Raymond Massey in the role of the doctor. My issue with the husband character is that he was underdeveloped and their entire relationship was not particularly believable and it needed to have been better realized. This type of story needed a richer exploration of its characters and their dynamic.

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The beginning and the ending were the best parts of Possessed and the framing device really worked in this instance, but I just wished that the middle section was more memorable. This is the kind of film that does everything right, but it never excels at anything, leading to a very good movie that never quite reached that great status.