As a kid, I gained an incredible amount of film history — not to mention history, period — through back issues of Mad magazine. My favorite features were the movie parodies, which I often read years, if not decades, before actually seeing the films they spoofed. Only once has this practice soured my enjoyment: Mad #191’s “Sobsession” all but ruined Brian De Palma’s Obsession for me. Even though 35 years passed between my reading and eventual viewing, knowing the twist excised nearly all the suspense — and, therefore, the fun.
The cozy, coddled life of real estate magnate Michael Courtland (a drab Cliff Roberston, Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben) turns to crap when his wife, Elizabeth (Genevieve Bujold, Earthquake), and their young daughter (Wanda Blackman) are kidnapped from their own home and held for a sizable ransom. Due to a hiccup in the negotiated drop-off, tragedy strikes, leaving Michael to bury and grieve his loved ones.
Sixteen years later (which pass in one bravura 360˚ shot on De Palma’s part), the widower still hasn’t moved on. When work takes him to Italy, where he met Elizabeth, he meets her spitting image in Sandra (also played by Bujold). Whether they fall in love for happily ever after is a moot point; this is De Palma, not Nicholas Sparks.
Something else it’s not: great De Palma. Although visually sumptuous, even with its gauzy haze, Obsession bores on the level of narrative. Co-written with Paul Schrader (the no-slouch scribe of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver that same year), the film finds De Palma further exploring — and more deliberately so — the idea of the Hitchcockian double, injecting his own Sisters with airs of respectability.
As intoxicating as its setup is, the film starts to falter. Those looking to have their itch for a De Palma set piece scratched will get it … at the very end, itself abrupt and possibly a concession to the studio suits. All that sits in between indeed just sits, lulling viewers to a light nap. You may find yourself roused whenever John Lithgow (2019’s Pet Sematary) pops in as Michael’s business partner; I’m not sure what he’s doing here with full Southern Gentleman affectation, but damn is he ever doing it. —Rod Lott