Watching Possession for the first time, I could detect the shadow of Grotowsky in director Andrzej Zulawki’s handling of his actors: in the personality-destroying hysteria of Sam Waterson and the whirling smarminess of Heinz Bennent, but most of all in Isabelle Adjani’s showstopper. If you’ve seen the film you know which scene I’m talking about. Yes, Adjani’s subway meltdown, which I count among the bravest and most moving performances ever caught on film.
