POSSESSION (2002) (***1/2)
This film has two love stories within each other. The key to that statement is love. Many modern love stories are about the explosion and not the suspense. Neil LaBute's film understands that sex and love start in the mind.
The first is the secret affair of a Victorian poet named Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam, GOSFORD PARK), noted for being a devote husband, and lesbian poet Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle, SUNSHINE). The second is Ash scholar Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart, IN THE COMPANY OF MEN) and LaMotte scholar Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE), who are secretly investigating the Ash and LaMotte affair.
The story works like a mystery. What’s refreshing about the story is the look at career scholars, who devote their lives to one topic. The first time Roland meets Maud, she uses her superior knowledge of LaMotte as a way of feeling superior to Roland. He has discovered a letter from Ash to LaMotte, which challenges everything she has thought about her favorite poet. Maud is the central character and through the journey of discovering more about LaMotte she is allowed to open up herself. Likewise, Roland has been burned in love so often that staying distant and in his head is safe.