Obsession (1976) d. Brian De Palma (USA) (98 min)
A 10th wedding anniversary celebration in New Orleans in 1959 ends tragically when Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson, Brainstorm) discovers that his wife Elizabeth (Geneviève Bujold, Dead Ringers) and 9-year-old daughter have been kidnapped. When an attempt to thwart the captors goes awry, Courtland's wife and daughter are never recovered. 16 years later, while vacationing in Florence (where Michael first met Elizabeth), Courtland falls in love with a young woman, Sandra (also Bujold), an exact, if younger, double of his dead wife. On the eve of their wedding, Sandra disappears, with only a ransom note left behind ... a duplicate of the one found several years earlier.
De Palma’s most sustained homage to Hitchcock, specifically Vertigo, but also with nods to Marnie, Rebecca, Notorious, and Dial M for Murder, is undeniably stylish but its biggest problem lies with Robertson’s widower being such an unsympathetic lizard-like narcissist that we never relate or empathize with him as we did with James Stewart’s Scotty. Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock’s favorite composer, provides the music, his penultimate composition for the screen (Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver would be his last), with frequent collaborator Vilmos Zsigimond delivering some stunning cinematography. Released the same year as Hitch’s last film, Family Plot, and De Palma’s breakout film, Carrie. Script by Paul Schrader (Hardcore, First Reformed), with a typically hammy supporting turn by John Lithgow (in his second feature film).
BONUS FEATURES
NEW Audio Commentary with author Douglas Keesey (Brian De Palma’s Split-Screen: A Life In Film)
“Producing Obsession” with George Litto (26 min)
“Editing Obsession” with Paul Hirsch (21 min)
Obsession Revisited – Vintage Featurette featuring interviews with De Palma, Robertson, Litto, Zsigimond, and Bujold (38 min)
Theatrical Trailer
Radio Spots
Still Gallery
Obsession is available now from Shout! Factory and can be ordered HERE:
https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/obsession-collector-s-edition?product_id=6948
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