neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Possession
	Neil LaBute Aaron Eckhart, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle, Lena Headey 2002		Two dedicated but mismatched scholars — Roland, a brash American played by Aaron Eckhart, and Maud, a proper, lovely British academic played by Gwyneth Paltrow — try to unravel a literary mystery in "Possession." As stuffy as that sounds, it's the basis of this engaging, sensuous adaptation of an award-winning novel. Through research and deduction, Roland and Maud aim to unearth the truth about a secret romance between two Victorian poets: Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam), whose dedication to his wife was unquestioned, and Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle), whose longtime companion was another woman. As they discover clues about the Randolph-Christabel relationship, Roland and Maud grow closer. With its intertwined, parallel love stories and ardent flashbacks like a Merchant-Ivory movie on Viagra, it's a tender, deftly realized film unlike anything previously done by its director, the usually harsh, cynical Neil LaBute ("Nurse Betty," "In the Company of Men").