Obsession – Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[t1g3r5fan]

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the movies of director Brian De Palma can be seen as riffing off of the works of the legendary Alfred Hitchcock; the director has often mentioned this in several reviews. Interestingly enough, one of De Palma’s cinematic nods to the Master of Suspense, Obsession, came out the very same year Hitchcock unveiled what would be his final film, Family Plot. Parallels and coincidences aside, Obsession stands out as one of the director’s most sustained and stylish homage to Hitchcock in his entire oeuvre. Previously released by Columbia on DVD and Sony as part of their MOD DVD line, Obsession debuts on Blu-ray in a Collector’s Edition courtesy of Shout Factory’s Scream sub-label.



Obsession (1976)



Released: 01 Sep 1976
Rated: PG
Runtime: 98 min




Director: Brian De Palma
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller



Cast: Cliff...

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[Winston T. Boogie]

Nice review. Yes, this film was directly inspired by Vertigo. De Palma and Schrader had gone to see Vertigo when it was finally released to cinemas again in the 1970s (after many years of being unable to see it) and were so in love with it they decided they had to make a film like it. So, Schrader went off to write something and Obsession became the film they would make. So, it really is their Vertigo.

This to me has always been De Palma's most overlooked film as it seems there is never much discussion of it and while I see big fans of his other pictures popping up and a lot of discussion of those films, Obsession remains one that seems not to draw much attention.

I think this is because they were very open about the fact that a viewing of Vertigo inspired this film. A lot of people seem to refer to De Palma's work as a "rip off" of Hitchcock but it is not. As De Palma himself has said he was never "ripping off" Hitchcock but rather just trying to stand on his shoulders. He was always attempting to build upon what Hitchcock did, not steal from him.

The Arrow version of this, at least their first release of it, included a nice book that contains the original script Schrader wrote which is a very cool extra.

I'm a huge fan of De Palma and my favorite works from him are his thrillers and this was the picture where he really seems to first display his mastery of the genre. Sisters is great as well but he really takes off here with this love letter to Vertigo.

I hope that this release brings more attention to this picture as it is a very nice thriller. I would try not to compare it to Vertigo while watching it, though it will be obvious that De Palma and Schrader are riffing on that, and to just enjoy it as a beautifully crafted and wonderfully acted thriller.

If I recall correctly, Cliff Robertson was a gigantic pain in the ass when they were shooting this which is sort of funny. I think De Palma wanted to kill him.

 

[Jimbo64]

One of my favorite DePalma’s, can’t wait to pick this up

 

[Worth]

I think it's one of De Palma's better films, though it probably helps that I saw this before I saw Vertigo.

 

[Robin9]

Nice review. Yes, this film was directly inspired by Vertigo. De Palma and Schrader had gone to see Vertigo when it was finally released to cinemas again in the 1970s (after many years of being unable to see it) and were so in love with it they decided they had to make a film like it. So, Schrader went off to write something and Obsession became the film they would make . . . . . they were very open about the fact that a viewing of Vertigo inspired this film. . . . .I would try not to compare it to Vertigo while watching it, though it will be obvious that De Palma and Schrader are riffing on that, and to just enjoy it as a beautifully crafted and wonderfully acted thriller.

I respect film makers who acknowledge their debts and admit openly when they borrow an idea or plot point from another film. What I despise is film makers who plagiarise someone else's work and pretend their own work is entirely original.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with re-imagining a story. Last night I watched Broken Lance which is a remake of House Of Strangers which itself derives from a re-imagining of King Lear. The story is hugely different but two major plot points come from Shakespeare's play.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I respect film makers who acknowledge their debts and admit openly when they borrow an idea or plot point from another film. What I despise is film makers who plagiarise someone else's work and pretend their own work is entirely original.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with re-imagining a story. Last night I watched Broken Lance which is a remake of House Of Strangers which itself derives from a re-imagining of King Lear. The story is hugely different but two major plot points come from Shakespeare's play.

Yes, I see no issue with this. However, I think some people do. And when you make a film that you tell everybody is inspired by a Hitchcock film...well...people are going to compare it to the Hitchcock film and they are going to dismiss it as "not as good."

So, they were off to a rough start there. Plus it always bothers me that there are people that write De Palma off as a Hitchcock rip off artist when he obviously, to me anyway, is constantly adding his own style and flourishes to the mix.

Obsession is not just a Vertigo copy. It is not the Gus Van Sant take on Psycho. Schrader wrote a story inspired by Vertigo and sure it uses the idea of two women that look identical but it is not the same story.

I think for these guys and even for Van Sant you are really setting yourself up to get hammered when you openly try to make films like these. However, I think people should try to examine them on their own merits.

 

[lark144]

According to Wikipedia:

"In October 1983, Rear Window and Vertigo were the first two films re-released by Hitchcock's estate after his death. These two films and three others – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Trouble with Harry (1955), and Rope (1948) – had been kept out of distribution by Hitchcock since 1968."

When OBSESSION was made, VERTIGO had been unavailable for a long time. Rather than actually seeing the film, Paul Schrader and Brian dePalma were basing OBSESSION on their memories of seeing VERTIGO many years before. Their intention was not so much copying Hitchcock as putting out a film that was similar in structure to VERTIGO, as VERTIGO could not be seen for 8 years, and would continue to be unavailable for another 7 years.

 

[Ray H]

I watched this movie and disc for the first time recently and rather enjoyed it. I had avoided some of De Palma's 70s-80s films for fear of the Hitchcock comparisons, but had quite a bit of fun going through them (watched Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise, Obsession, Carrie, The Fury, Blow Out, Dressed to Kill and Body Double, as well as Scarface, The Untouchables and Carlito's Way within the last few months/weeks). Seemed like a more unhinged, less repressed version of Hitchcock. Obsession has a really nice evocative score by Bernard Herrmann doing his Vertigo sound. Plot's kinda silly but fun. Body Double is another film that tries to explore Vertigo's plot holes.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

When OBSESSION was made, VERTIGO had been unavailable for a long time. Rather than actually seeing the film, Paul Schrader and Brian dePalma were basing OBSESSION on their memories of seeing VERTIGO many years before.

Well, I did misspeak a bit there, Vertigo had not been released to cinemas again when they saw it, they had gone to a special showing at the LA County Museum and then went out to dinner afterward and had a discussion about how blown away by the film they were (De Palma thinks this showing was in Vista Vision).

So, Obsession did arise out of them seeing that showing of the film in the 1970s. I have heard both of them tell that story of finally seeing the film in a theater like that and not being able to get it out of their heads.

Here's a video of De Palma telling that story and obviously this video is loaded with spoilers so don't watch it unless you have seen Obsession..,

 

[lark144]

I wasn't aware of that. In a way, it's too bad, as I would have preferred that OBSESSION was based on foggy, twenty year old memories of VERTIGO, as that's how it comes across. Something that's almost pre-conscious, lingering just outside awareness; a condition that echoes the title of the original French novel VERTIGO is based on: "D'entre Les Morts" or Among the Dead; in other words, a phantasmal, dream state, like the gauzy photography in the film under discussion.

Of course, Brian DePalma references VERTIGO in so many of his films--BLOW OUT, BODY DOUBLE, FEMME FATALE--that the themes and visual tropes of VERTIGO become a kind of obsession, an rasion d'etre that is a metaphor for the act of cinema in itself, a doubling that is the outward projection of one's own inner state of being. So while many critics have accused Mr. DePalma's entire body of work as being an act of plagiarism, and Mr. DePalma himself referred to these Hitchcockian themes as "grammar", for me they seem to be a way for Mr. Palma to express the way he feels about things within the context of a thriller plot, hiding his personal concerns while remaining in plain sight, a doubling that mimics the doubling of the lost love from VERTIGO.

 

[The Drifter]

I find Obsession to be a very effective film; I like the scenery of New Orleans & Italy (especially during the modern '70's time period), and the storyline was creepy & unsettling at times. One of Cliff Robertson's best roles, and John Lithgow played a great "villain". Very well-done, and the first time around it kept me guessing until the very end.

I'm a huge fan of De Palma's '70's & '80's flicks; I find these films to be homages to Hitch's movies, but without being blatant rip-offs (if that makes sense).

 

[Worth]

I've always felt De Palma owed less to Hitchcock and more to the Italian "giallos" of the late-60s to early-70s.

 

[lark144]

I've always felt De Palma owed less to Hitchcock and more to the Italian "giallos" of the late-60s to early-70s.

Since Giallos are inspired by or copies of the same Hitchcock films-visual tropes that DePalma is always accused of copying, then if he's copying Giallos, he's copying copies of Hitchcock, which is still copying Hitchcock.

Not that I'm accusing DePalma of copying Hitchcock, for he was using themes of voyeurism and point of view tracking shots in his experimental films of the mid to late 60's, before any giallos were shown in this country.

 

[RBlenheim]

Compared to Hitchcock, DePalma is a pipsqueak. Obsession is okay, but it doesn't stand on its shoulders; it coils around the foot of its foundation like an eel around a monument.

 

[Wayne Klein]

Just a correction about the Arrow: It says it's Region B but it is Region Free. I've had it (along with the reproduction of the original script) for years.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I wasn't aware of that. In a way, it's too bad, as I would have preferred that OBSESSION was based on foggy, twenty year old memories of VERTIGO, as that's how it comes across. Something that's almost pre-conscious, lingering just outside awareness; a condition that echoes the title of the original French novel VERTIGO is based on: "D'entre Les Morts" or Among the Dead; in other words, a phantasmal, dream state, like the gauzy photography in the film under discussion.

Well, even though they had recently seen it I think what you are saying is actually descriptive of the process. Basically, because first they had a memory of seeing Vertigo, then the experience of seeing it again...and the film does play with the idea of memory and how that is a multifaceted thing.

And funny thing is their title was originally Deja Vu.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Compared to Hitchcock, DePalma is a pipsqueak. Obsession is okay, but it doesn't stand on its shoulders; it coils around the foot of its foundation like an eel around a monument.

Well, that's a fairly unkind thing to say about De Palma, and really not true. Of course they stood on the shoulders of Hitchcock as had he not existed, or gone where he went with his pictures, likely many others may not have either. Secondly, Hitchcock did not invent suspense or the thriller...he was just very adept at it.

I don't think comparing one filmmaker to another is a great idea. Hitchcock was Hitchcock, De Palma is De Palma. Brian is, in all honesty, a brilliant filmmaker and his understanding of the craft is quite evident in his work. He does have a dark and sarcastic sense of humor, which he directs at himself as well, and I think people miss that but Hitchcock also had a twisted sense of humor. Not as twisted as De Palma's and probably not as mischievous but that is something they have in common.

Brian's films are of his time and Hitchcock's of his. I don't expect to convince anybody of anything here but I am thankful that De Palma absorbed Hitchcock's lessons so well because it made for some really fantastic films...for me anyway.

And look, if I was asked which film you had to see if you could only pick one, Vertigo or Obsession, obviously I would tell people Vertigo but that does not lessen what Obsession is in any way really.

 

[John Maher_289910]

[QUOTE="

And look, if I was asked which film you had to see if you could only pick one, Vertigo or Obsession, obviously I would tell people Vertigo but that does not lessen what Obsession is in any way really.[/QUOTE]

Not me. I adore lots of Hitchcock's films, but VERTIGO was never one of them. Other than early on (when it plays more like a De Palma film), I find it a most unsatisfying experience. OBSESSION satisfies me, every step of the way.