Movie Review: Obsession (1976)

In my past review of “Body Double,” I mentioned that it was a homage to both Hitchcock movies, “Rear Window” and “Vertigo.” “Obsession,” a movie he made earlier in 1976, is another of his tributes to “Vertigo,” and closer in plot to the Alfred Hitchcock classic.

The movie opens with a loud, almost jarring background score as the titles flow by. The music is gone, replaced by sounds of the night, and the locale is New Orleans in 1959.

In an exquisite mansion, a celebration is in progress. Businessman Robert Lasalle (John Lithgow) is toasting the 10th nuptial anniversary of Michael (Cliff Robertson) and Elizabeth Courtland (Geneviève Bujold). Michael is Robert’s business partner and close friend. Soft music plays in the background.

The couple, clearly in love, waltzes to the music. The couple’s young daughter, Amy, appears and shares a dance with her beloved father. As the celebration continues, the camera reveals a concealed firearm tucked in the pants of one of the waiters to set the scene for what is to come next.

After the celebration is over and the guests leave, Amy’s loud scream pierces the moment. A frantic Michael charges into her room, and to his horror, there is no sign of Amy. Instead, he finds a ransom note demanding a sum of $50,000 not just for recovering Amy but also for recovering his wife, Elizabeth, who has also been abducted.

With both Elizabeth and Amy kidnapped, Michael receives a note from the kidnappers, delivered by a young boy, with instructions on how Michael can trade the money for his wife and daughter.

Despite the kidnappers’ warning against the idea, Michael asks the police for assistance. The police chief talks Michael into a plan where Michael is to give the kidnappers a suitcase with blank papers and a radio signal tracker instead of the ransom they demanded.

The plan falls apart when the kidnappers see that they have been tricked and try to flee the scene with the hostages. The situation turns tragic when the kidnappers are pursued, as their car crashes and bursts into flames with everyone in it dead.

Sixteen years pass, and Michael is now by himself and still in love and obsessed with his dead wife. In memory of his beloved wife, Michael has built a replica of the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte church in Florence, the place where he first met her.

A business trip brings him and his partner Lasalle to Florence. Michael pays a visit to the church by himself to relive his past memories. To his astonishment, he sees a woman who is a spitting image of Elizabeth working to restore some of the paintings that were damaged by a flood years before.

There is, of course, the ‘signature’ De Palma ‘dialog-free scene as Michael stalks Elizabeth’s replica across the sites of Florence and in and out of lavishly furnished buildings.

Michael then accosts the woman, gets to know her, and even begins to court her. The woman, Sandra, warns Michael that she is a strict Catholic and will not indulge in impropriety before marriage. Michael complies, as he is now in love with her.

Michael tries to recreate Elizabeth in Sandra, and surprisingly, sees little objection. Hitchcock fans will immediately see De Palma’s tribute to Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” here.

The two are engaged, and Michael brings her back to his mansion in New Orleans. Then, when the wedding day arrives, fate repeats itself: Sandra is abducted, and Michael finds a ransom note almost identical to the one he found when Amy and Elizabeth were kidnapped.

Michael is now on the verge of a mental breakdown and hustles to arrange for the ransom and pay off the kidnappers. In this process, he uncovers a devilish conspiracy behind all the kidnappings and other revelations.

This movie, like most De Palma movies, is a visual treat spread across beautiful sites in Florence and New Orleans. The plot has facets of look-alikes, stalking, and obsession, both trite in Hitchcock and De Palma movies.

As is well known, De Palma likes to keep things edgy and push the envelope in his movies. While the movie itself has no explicit scenes, its theme comes dangerously close to creepiness but stops just inches away.

While many critics have criticized the plot as being far from reality, I agree with Ebert in that it is this aspect of the movie that makes it more exciting. Again, like many of De Palma’s plots, it has loopholes. De Palma seems to focus on the movie’s overall style than the plot’s substance, and surprisingly, that works.

Lithgow puts in a strong performance, as one would expect from him. The best performance, however, comes from Geneviève Bujold, briefly as passionate Elizabeth and then as the young and vibrant Sandra. Geneviève has little problems portraying Sandra with her Italian accent.

However, the weakest link in the movie is the protagonist, Cliff Robertson. With limited acting skills and few expressions, he is unable to exhibit enough pathos to make a convincing, grieving Michael. However, the plot, the music, and other actors do compensate for him. Even De Palma later admitted that casting Robertson in the movie was a bad choice.

“Obsession’s” plot shares commonalities with “Vertigo,” such as the presumed dead female lead mysteriously resurfacing, the male lead’s obsession with her, and a sinister conspiracy behind it all. A church is an important locale in both movies.

However, unlike in “Vertigo,” “Obsession’s” climax does not unfold at the church. The ending in “Obsession” is, in fact, well done and quite unique. In both movies, the lady who bears a resemblance to the dead woman has little objection when the protagonist asks the lead to behave like the deceased woman. Funnily enough, on hindsight, the look-alike has more motivation to comply with the protagonist in “Obsession” than in “Vertigo.”

“Obsession” is a slow burner but is saved by its haunting and sometimes jarring music, dark film noir-like visuals, and an edgy plotline. Though this is not De Palma’s best work to date, it is worth watching.