Possession 2002

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Possession ★★ 2002 (PG-13)

English lit lite in this uninvolving romance from LaBute, based on the 1990 novel by A.S. Byatt. Brash and scruffy (doesn't the man own a razor?) American scholar Roland Michell (Eckhart) finds letters from 19thcentury poet Randolph Henry Ash (Northam)—possibly to feminist poet Christabel LaMotte (Ehle). Michell hooks up with repressed Brit scholar Maud Bailey (bunwearing Paltrow), an expert on Christabel, to investigate the connection. They discover the married Ash and LaMotte had a brief, passionate affair that changed their lives. The modernday duo are too wary to get involved the same way—at least at first. Looks beautiful but is utterly predictable. 102m/C VHS, DVD . US GB Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle, Lena Headey, Toby Stephens, Tom Hickey, Trevor Eve, Tom Hollander, Graham Crowden, Anna Massey, Holly Aird, Georgia Mackenzie; D: Neil LaBute; W: Neil LaBute, David Henry Hwang, Laura Jones; C: JeanYves Escoffier; M: Gabriel Yared.