Possessor

Fans of Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor will be delighted by this new release from Second Sight films which contains some four hours of additional viewing material, most of it sufficiently visually and intellectually dense that you’ll want to explore it a bit at a time. It begins with an audio commentary featuring Cronenberg himself alongside supervising producer Rob Cotterill, producer Karim Hussain and special effects artist Dan Martin. The four talk easily and enthusiastically, delivering lots of interesting inside information. Despite this, one gets the sense that they’re only just scratching the surface of what they could say, but that’s okay, because they’re given plenty of other opportunities.

There are lengthy new interviews here with Cronenberg, Hussain and Cotterill, the former presented with layered images from the film which nicely suit the film, but with music which gets tedious and a little intrusive; the latter comfortably ensconced in his living room, where he has a copy of Kier-La Janisse’s book House Of Psychotic Women perched on a corner table. Martin’s work is highlighted in an FX Show and Tell segment which is basically just assembled from observational behind the scenes material, so falls a little short where the tell is concerned, but still has value, especially in light of the secretive tendency of FX artists more generally.

Also here is a cinematic essay on dissociation which seems to miss the point a bit, but your milage may vary, and it still provides food for thought. There are deleted scenes, run as a single sequence so you’ll have to be on the ball to mentally insert them in the right places in the film (it helps that some of them are discussed elsewhere, so resist the temptation to watch this first). They add a little more to the characters and the central idea but one can understand why, when the running time became unwieldy, they were the ones to go. Then there’s test footage, most of which explores visual effects.

In addition to this and three archive featurettes, there’s Cronenberg’s first exploration of some of the themes in the film, in the form of short film Please Speak Continuously And Describe Your Experiences As They Come To You, which is a real treat for fans and contains a good central performance from Deragh Campbell, who would go on to have a role in Possessor (and recently made an appearance in I Don’t Know Who You Are). With all this plus the trailer, a booklet full of essays (including one by Eye For Film’s own Anton Bitel) and some art cards, you’ll really feel spoiled. If you’re new to Cronenberg’s work and just dived in with Infinity Pool, this is a great introduction to his methods and way of thinking.