Possession

Release Date: 5th December 2002
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle, Gwyneth Paltrow
Director: Neil LaBute
Genre: Drama
Rated: M
Running Time: 100 mins

Synopsis: American researcher Roland Michell is in London studying his favourite author, Randolph Henry Ash, when he stumbles upon a literary smoking gun -- a handwritten letter penned by Ash. Ash was a devoted husband yet the letter is addressed to an unknown woman. Further sleuthing leads Michell to an obscure poet named Christabel LaMotte.

Needing help, the scholar turns to the notoriously uptight Maud Bailey, England's foremost authority on Christabel and her distant relative. She is sceptical of Michell's findings but nevertheless, decides to assist his detective work.

Inspired and intrigued by the notion of a tryst, the modern academics embark on a journey across the British countryside, tracking the elusive romance and scouring the poets' work for clues.

As Michell and Bailey unravel the mystery, the Victorian era affair unfolds before us. Meeting places are revisited, and first meetings relived as we shift between past and present and unearth scandalous secrets.

As the two tales progress, Michell and Bailey find their own interaction becoming increasingly intimate. Tentatively overcoming emotional barriers, their blossoming relationship starts to echo that of the poetic paramours; both couples wrestling with social issues that threaten to suffocate their passions.