Obsession (1976)

Overrated

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

In 1959 in New Orleans, real estate magnate Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson) celebrates his tenth wedding anniversary with his lovely wife Elizabeth (Genevieve Bujold) and nine year-old daughter Amy (Wanda Blackman). But as we hear the portentous music in the background and see a butler with a pistol tucked inside his belt and inside his white jacket, we feel something ominous. That night Michael's wife and daughter are kidnapped as a $500,000 ransom note is left behind. Although Michael is warned not to call the police he does so. Inspector August Brie (Stanley Reyes), he of the thick accent, has a strategy that he says works every time. This plan involves placing a transmitter inside the briefcase with fake money packs. Then the police simply follow the pick-up man with a radio truck. At the destination the kidnappers are apprehended. Simple! Of course the plan goes awry, and the kidnappers escape in their car with their victims, or so it seems. Hey police, you could have shot the tires out! Anyway, it ends tragically as the kidnappers' car crashes into a tractor-trailer oil tanker and explodes, killing everyone aboard. No bodies are found. Grief stricken Michael builds a church-like tomb on undeveloped prime land to his deceased wife and daughter.Sixteen years later, in 1975, Michael and his close friend / partner Bob La Salle (John Lithgow) travel to Florence, Italy on business and vacation. Courtland goes to the Florence church where he had met his late wife after the Second World War. He is startled to spot a young woman (around 25 years-old) who looks exactly like his dead wife at the height of their marriage. She (Sandra Portinari = Genevieve Bujold) is restoring mural art from the early Renaissance (1325). Sandra responds well to the older man and says that her task is to prepare the painting for the specialist. She also wonders that there may be an older, cruder painting underneath the later one. Michael says of the newer work, "Hold on to it, beauty should be protected." This statement gives us a hint of what the movie is about: People are not what they seem to be. A courtship develops, and before long Michael desires Sandra and wants to marry her. When the two visit Sandra's dying mother in a local hospital, she tells Michael to marry her. He takes her to new Orleans, but his co-workers tell him he is pushing things too quickly. Sandra begins to poke around Michael's mansion. With a half-hour or so to go, the ploys begin to make sense, but no spoilers will be given in this review. The movie spells things out quite well, and there should not be too many questions from viewers. Love that closing shot! Director Brian De Palma has created a few classics, like "Carrie" (1976), "Dressed to Kill" (1980), "Blow Out" (1981), "Scarface" (1983), and "The Untouchables" (1987). He is a master at creating a moody atmosphere, as he has done here with "Obsession," which is helped by Bernard Hermann's haunting music score. By the way, Hermann worked Hitchcock's "Vertigo" in 1958. There are other pluses, like Vilmos Zsigmond's outstanding Panavision photography and the deliberate pacing. Cliff Robertson, paralyzed by melancholia, plays his role well. Bujold too is in good form in a dual role (hint, hint). Despite the plot holes, this one is worth watching (and fascinating).

This had one of the baddest plots ever and you could see it coming from miles of. At a certain point about 40 minutes in you all ready know what the conclusion will be because it all obvious points to that. There is simply no set up for anything else so the story basically unfolds without any surprises and a very predictable ending.The characters make illogical decisions and there is a real lack of chemistry between them and some explanations are ludicrous like the nine year old girl that seems to forget her former life because its convenient to the script.Movie has a lot of these examples and most of the time just drags one for that "shocking moment" at the end which it does not deliver because you all ready know that.A later movie from De Palma "raising Cain" which has some of the same subject matter is a far better movie than this both visually and plot wise so your better of watching that.This was compared to Hitchcock but while his movies will stand the test of time this one from De Palma shows he still had a lot to learn about story telling.He got it eventually but he can write this one of as a fail.

OBSESSION, Brian de Palma's answer to Hitchcock's VERTIGO, is the most disappointing film I've seen from the director yet. Despite his steadfast direction and some not-bad performances from the central actors, this is a huge letdown of a film, purely due to the film-flam nature of the storyline. The truth is that it just doesn't hold together under close scrutiny. The whole plot hinges on a conspiracy of sorts which is so ridiculous, so unbelievable, that it could only appear in a movie.The story opens with ageing Hollywood heartthrob Cliff Robertson losing his wife and daughter during a kidnapping attempt. So far, so good. Unfortunately, the story then cuts to twenty years later and loses any of the focus or interest it had previously generated. It becomes a cheesy, '70s-era romance that goes nowhere, taking an age to build to that aforementioned ridiculous climax that asks the audience to swallow a wholly unbelievable plot. It's impossible.Robertson is passable as the lead actor, but he never lights up the screen in the way a Stewart, Grant or Peck would have done. He's definitely second-rate material. Genevieve Bujold, as the subject of his affection, is better, but not as good as Margot Kidder in de Palma's previous SISTERS. John Lithgow is a disappointment in the acting stakes, especially given his performance in the much better BLOW OUT. All in all, this is the most disappointing de Palma film I've watched yet, at least up until his work in the mid-'90s.

In 1959, in New Orleans, the businessman Michael "Mike" Courtland (Cliff Robertson) celebrates the tenth wedding anniversary with his beloved wife Elizabeth (Geneviève Bujold) with a party in his manor. Late night, Elizabeth and their daughter Amy are abducted and the kidnappers leave a note asking the ransom of US$ 500,000.00. However Mike calls the police but the rescue operation is a mess. When the criminals are pursued, there is a car crash and it explodes. Mike blames himself for the death of Elizabeth and Amy and builds a memorial in the location of the accident.In 1975, Mike travels with his partner Robert Lasalle (John Lithgow) to Florence in a business trip and when he goes to the church where he first met Elizabeth, he sees the worker Sandra Portinari (Geneviève Bujold) that is working in the restoration of a painting of Madonna and is a dead ringer of Elizabeth. Mike becomes obsessed in Sandra and dates her. When Mike travels back to NOLA, he brings Sandra planning to marry her. However, Sandra is also kidnapped and Mike finds a ransom note identical to the one he received when Elizabeth was abducted. Now Mike believes that destiny has given a second chance to him and he does not want to blow it. "Obsession" is an average thriller by Brian De Palma with a messy and chaotic screenplay. The greatest problem is the lead actor Cliff Robertson that keeps a wooden face with the same expression and never convinces. The plot is also silly and weak since Bob has waited fifteen years to lure Mike and take his real state. The incestuous romance between Mike and Sandra is also lame since she could be a "good catholic girl", but she certainly has had intimacies with her father in the name of revenge. Last but not the least, this is the first feature of John Lithgow, who has always been doomed to be the villain. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Trágica Obsessão" ("Tragic Obsession")