OVP: Obsession (1976)

Film: Obsession (1976)

Stars: Cliff Robertson, Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow

Director: Brian de Palma

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Score)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Every year or so, the Oscars change the definition of what they consider to be "Academy-worthy" when it comes to "auteur"-style filmmakers.  People like David Fincher, David O. Russell, Kathryn Bigelow, & Wes Anderson graduated from being "critically-acclaimed but ignored" by AMPAS to being darlings, or even perennials with the awards circuit.  This is not a new feature, and it stretches back as far as the 1970's, when filmmakers like Steven Spielberg & Martin Scorsese made this transition.  One of the bigger names, though, that never really translated with Oscar is Brian de Palma.  While de Palma has had some success with Oscar (both Carrie and The Untouchables were nominated for high-profile acting trophies), de Palma himself has never been cited for an Oscar, making him arguably the most celebrated living American director to never be nominated for an Academy Award.  We're going to go with one of the few films he made that did tangentially flirt with Oscar, but of course, didn't get de Palma that glory.

(Spoilers Ahead) Obsession is not a perfectly linear story, but I'll try to suss out the plot for you here.  Essentially we have Michael Courtland (Robertson), who is a wealthy real estate developer, whose life is torn asunder when his wife (Bujold) & daughter are kidnapped, and in a botched ransom drop-off, are killed.  Years later, Michael is still mourning his spouse when he is visiting Florence, and he meets a woman there named Elizabeth (Bujold) who looks exactly like his dead wife.  Despite the misgivings of many, including his business partner Robert (Lithgow, in his first major film role), he marries Elizabeth...and then she is promptly kidnapped in a fashion similar to his dead wife.  It turns out that Elizabeth is in fact Michael's daughter (who is not dead), and it was Robert who staged the original kidnapping to try & gain control of Michael's company.  Michael then kills Robert, and nearly kills Elizabeth in a maddened state, but in the end they reunite happily rather than in a homicidal confrontation.

The film's incestuous plot was apparently slightly toned down (screenwriter Paul Schrader, not surprisingly, wanted to amp up this angle as it's by-far the film's most provocative element).  The bigger problem, though, isn't this jaw-dropping reveal in the third act, but that the film itself is such a mess.  This is a hallmark of de Palma's films-the need for excess in every fashion (particularly in terms of plot), but it's not my jam.  I thought the film didn't really make much sense, and the climax with Robertson killing Lithgow, and then the tearful hug was...cheap.  I thought it was a bit of a letdown given the gonzo directions the movie was going (if you're going to go for it, go all out).

The film received one Academy Award nomination, and a bit of a sad one.  Bernard Herrmann was hired for the film, and while this wasn't the only movie that de Palma would work with Herrmann on (he'd also write the score to Carrie), it does feel like a nod in the direction that Obsession was criticized for at the time-it's way too similar to Vertigo.  The movie seems to copy exact passages (like when Robertson is instructing Bujold how to walk), trying to recreate Hitchcock's film verbatim.  This reads as cheap homage to me, bordering on student film laziness it so closely relates to Hitchcock's original, and while the score is decent (Herrmann doesn't do bad work), it also feels like the kind of situation where he's underlining some of the worst parts of the movie through his music being so similar to Vertigo.