“Dementia Rumba”: Isabelle Ajani had a profound performance in this film

A look back on the set of director Andrzej Żulawski’s fourth film, Possession, which injured actress Isabelle Ajan because he tried so hard for her. Recall that Possession tells how Anna leaves her husband Mark and follows the latter’s investigation to find out if he has a lover. He quickly discovers that Anna is taking refuge in a strange house occupied by a mysterious creature.

“When I saw the rendering”Zulavsky narrates in the DVD commentary of the film (Matt Indiewire), “She was trying to end her life because she never wanted to see the footage that was taken every day, so she didn’t really know how we were looking at her and she was trying to end her life. But there was Isabelle Ajani and you. We have to understand that in Europe Isabelle Ajani is a diva, someone important.

Sam Neill, the male lead in the film, will announce that filming like Possession “It couldn’t happen today”. If he recognizes his talent “The Real Filmmaker” And there is a movie “piece of art”Neil noted in March 2023 (Matt Indiewire):

“I don’t like it very much; what he saw as the direction of the actors was just mistreatment (…). There were times when he yelled in his face. It was painful to watch. Look.”

A very bad memory for the actor

The interested party is Returned in 2018 On the especially difficult shooting of the film, telling pleasant memories about the Polish director:

“I worked with a director, Zulawski, who was even wilder than his subject. He put on a play in his show, hysterical on set every day to make it contagious. He made the team dance the Dementia Rumba. Which he justified by saying it kept us from sinking in, especially me. , and that we actually had to make sure that his pace didn’t drop again, and at the same time, acting dutifully in the cave, I walked down the long tunnel that led to where the film was supposed to be.

Today, it would be impossible for me to make a film in disastrous conditions, to make it with a filmmaker like Zulavsky. You really have to be extremely young or anti-feminist or struggling for existence to believe in the utility of manipulation and martyrdom.

A rewarding role for Ajan, tied to himself!

In 1981, Possession was presented in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Isabelle Ajani is in attendance to support the film, as is another, also shortlisted, James Ivory Quartet. At the awards night, she received the Francine Russet and Donald Sutherland Best Actress Award for her role in Zulawski’s ET Quartet. Or how to compete with yourself.