Possession
Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Maud Bailey in the film adaptation of AS Byatt's novel of the same name. Shifting between the 19th and 20th centuries, she and a fellow literary scholar Roland Michell (Aaron Eckhart, Erin Brockovich) stumble on clues about an affair between two 19th-century poets, Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam, Gosford Park) and Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). Uncovering more details about the poets' love affair, the scholars end up in a relationship of their own. Directed by Neil LaBute.
Kenneth Turan
The Los Angeles Times
'Although fitting a 555-page book into an hour and 42 minutes of screen time entails a considerable amount of compression as well as the excising of the novel's philosophical underpinnings, overall Possession hews to the outline of the book. We can't go back to a time when a glimpse of bare shoulder took someone's breath away, but Possession will make you wish that we could.'
Stephanie Zacharek