Possessor
2020 · Canada, United Kingdom · 104 min
- Director
- Brandon Cronenberg
Awards: Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award; Sitges Film Festival Best Director award
Cast
What it is about
Tasya Vos is an assassin who uses an implant in the brain to take control of other people and carry out her hits. After each job, she forces the host to take their own life. Her professional routine begins to erode her family life and her sense of who she is. When she accepts a major assignment that involves possessing the fiancé of a powerful businessman's daughter, the operation starts to go wrong in unexpected ways.
How it was made
The project was announced in 2018 with Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott as its first cast members. Brandon Cronenberg wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Tuppence Middleton joined the cast in 2019, replacing Stacy Martin, and principal photography began in April of that year and wrapped in May in Ontario.
Reception and legacy
Possessor premiered at Sundance in January 2020 and received mostly favorable reviews, with praise for its originality and for the performances of Riseborough, Abbott and Gabrielle Graham. It won the Sitges Film Festival awards for best film and best director.
Stills
Trivia
A recast
Tuppence Middleton replaced Stacy Martin in the role of Ava Parse in May 2019, after the project was already underway.
Uncut screenings
In June 2023, the film was shown uncut in three North American theaters as a double feature with Infinity Pool, with Cronenberg in attendance.
More films by Brandon Cronenberg
Infinity Pool
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